Nine Best YA Contemporary Romances I Read in 2013

I was on quite the romance bender this year, and some of my favorites were YA. A couple of these books were published before 2013, but deserve mention based on obscurity! These are the books I most admired this year.

By Honorary Sis Sarah P.

Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley is an Australian import with something for everyone. A romance. A case of mistaken identity. Poetry and literary awesomeness.

The best romances have much more going on than just the love story, and My Life Next Door is no exception. I loved the whole package--the mouthy four year old, the political poser, the grumpy mom. Can't wait for her 2014 follow up.

All the Truth That's In Me would appear on just about any "best of" list I made this year. What a powerful, haunting read. And how amazing that Ms. Berry sustains such a heartbreaking romance through a plot line full of scary, unromantic stuff. Wow!

What Happens Next by Colleen Clayton follows a theme which received lots of airplay recently--her main character is trying to overcome a sexual assault, and a very patient boy helps her do that. This book absolutely rocks that plot line.

Somehow Rainbow Rowell published two bestselling, super romances in 2013. Just... wow. I'm sure these two books are turning up on lists everywhere. But that is as it should be.

Is Every Day a true romance? I believe it is. And with one of the most unique romance plots ever imagined.

Lauren Myracle's latest was a quieter, prettier book than she usually writes. And definitely romantic!

Hilary Smith's swashbuckling tale proves that romance can find you in the places (and during the moments) you're least expecting it.

Waiting on Wednesday: What I thought Was True

Waiting on Wednesday is a meme created over on the Breaking the Spine blog. And what fun it is!

Since the moment I cracked Huntley Fitzpatrick's My Life Next Door, I've been waiting for her next book. And the wait will be over on April 15th. Tax day. This shall be my reward: What I Thought Was True

From the author of My Life Next Door comes a swoony summertime romance full of expectation and regret, humor and hard questions.

Gwen Castle's Biggest Mistake Ever, Cassidy Somers, is slumming it as a yard boy on her Nantucket-esque island this summer. He's a rich kid from across the bridge in Stony Bay, and she hails from a family of fishermen and housecleaners who keep the island's summer people happy. Gwen worries a life of cleaning houses will be her fate too, but just when it looks like she'll never escape her past—or the island—Gwen's dad gives her some shocking advice. Sparks fly and secret histories unspool as Gwen spends a gorgeous, restless summer struggling to resolve what she thought was true—about the place she lives, the people she loves, and even herself—with what really is.

A magnetic, push-me-pull-me romance with depth, this is for fans of Sarah Dessen, Jenny Han, and Deb Caletti.