Crushes

13 Little Blue Envelopes / Maureen Johnson

When seventeen-year-old Ginny receives a packet of mysterious envelopes from her favorite aunt, she leaves New Jersey to criss-cross Europe on a sort of scavenger hunt that transforms her life.

All-American Girl / Meg Cabot

A sophomore girl stops a presidential assassination attempt, is appointed Teen Ambassador to the United Nations, and catches the eye of the very cute First Son.

Avalon High / Meg Cabot

Having moved to Annapolis, Maryland, with her medievalist parents, high school junior Ellie enrolls at Avalon High School where several students may or may not be reincarnations of King Arthur and his court.

Book of a Thousand Days / Shannon Hale

Fifteen-year-old Dashti, sworn to obey her sixteen-year-old mistress, the Lady Saren, shares Saren’s years of punishment locked in a tower, then brings her safely to the lands of her true love, where both must hide who they are as they work as kitchen maids.

Dairy Queen (series) / Catherine Gilbert Murdock

After spending her summer running the family farm and training the quarterback for her school’s rival football team, sixteen-year-old D.J. decides to go out for the sport herself, not anticipating the reactions of those around her.

Enthusiasm / Polly Shulman

Julie and Ashleigh, high school sophomores and Jane Austen fans, seem to fall for the same Mr. Darcy-like boy and struggle to hide their true feelings from one another while rehearsing for a school musical.

Flipped / Wendelin Van Draanen

In alternating chapters, two teenagers describe how their feelings about themselves, each other, and their families have changed over the years.

The Fortune of Carmen Navarro / Jen Bryant

In this modern-day resetting of the story on which the opera, Carmen, was based, four teens tell of half-gypsy Carmen, who believes she will become a famous singer, military cadet Ryan’s passion for her, and their best friends’ efforts to protect them both.

Going Vintage / Lindsey Leavitt

When sixteen-year-old Mallory learns that her boyfriend, Jeremy, is cheating on her with his cyber “wife,” she rebels against technology by following her grandmother’s list of goals from 1962, with help from her younger sister, Ginnie.

Just Like the Movies / Kelly Fiore

Pretty, popular Marijke Monti and over-achieving nerd-girl Lily Spencer have little in common–except that neither feels successful when it comes to love. Now they have a budding friendship and a plan–to act out grand gestures and get the guys of their dreams.

The Princess Diaries (series) / Meg Cabot

Fourteen-year-old Mia, who is trying to lead a normal life as a teenage girl in New York City, is shocked to learn that her father is the Prince of Genovia, a small European principality, and that she is a princess and the heir to the throne.

Prom & Prejudice / Elizabeth Eulberg

For Lizzie Bennett, a music scholarship student at Connecticut’s exclusive, girls-only Longbourn Academy, the furor over prom is senseless, but even more puzzling is her attraction to the pompous Will Darcy, best friend of her roommate’s boyfriend.

The Selection (series) / Kiera Cass

Sixteen-year-old America Singer is living in the caste-divided nation of Illea, which formed after the war that destroyed the United States. America is chosen to compete in the Selection–a contest to see which girl can win the heart of Illea’s prince–but all she really wants is a chance for a future with her secret love, Aspen, who is a caste below her.

Seventeenth Summer / Maureen Daly