[Note from Frolic: Today, we welcome author Sarah Suk to the site. She’s sharing some buzzy, upcoming YA romances that are not to be missed. Take it away, Sarah!]
As a 2021 debut author, I spend most of my time looking around at my fellow debuts and wondering how on earth I got so lucky as to be releasing a book at the same time as these incredible talents. I say this across the board in regards to the many genres and age groups being written, but today, I want to specifically highlight some of the upcoming YA romances Iโm most excited for. While this list is by no means comprehensive, I hope it will give you just a taste of whatโs to come and that youโll join me in counting down the days until we can swoon headfirst into these pages!
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Meet Cute Diary by Emery Lee
Release day: May 4
Noah Ramirez thinks heโs an expert on romance. He has to be for his popular blog, the Meet Cute Diary, a collection of trans happily ever afters. Thereโs just one problemโall the stories are fake. What started as the fantasies of a trans boy afraid to step out of the closet has grown into a beacon of hope for trans readers across the globe.
When a troll exposes the blog as fiction, Noahโs world unravels. The only way to save the Diary is to convince everyone that the stories are true, but he doesnโt have any proof. Then Drew walks into Noahโs life, and the pieces fall into place: Drew is willing to fake-date Noah to save the Diary. But when Noahโs feelings grow beyond their staged romance, he realizes that dating in real life isnโt quite the same as finding love on the page.
Where the Rhythm Takes You by Sarah Dass
Release day: May 11
Seventeen-year-old Reyna has spent most of her life at the Plumeria, her familyโs gorgeous seaside resort in Tobago. But what once seemed like paradise is starting to feel more like purgatory. Itโs been two years since Reynaโs mother passed away, two years since Aidenโher childhood best friend, first kiss, first love, first everythingโleft the island to pursue his music dreams.
Reynaโs friends are all planning their futures and heading abroad. Even Daddy seems to want to move on, leaving her to try to keep the Plumeria running.
And thatโs when Aiden comes roaring back into her lifeโas a VIP guest at the resort.
Aiden is now one-third of DJ Bacchanalโthe latest, hottest music group on the scene. While Reyna has stayed exactly where he left her, Aiden has returned to Tobago with his Grammy-nominated band and two gorgeous LA socialites. And he may (or may not be) dating one of themโฆ
Jayโs Gay Agenda by Jason June
Release day: Jun 1
Thereโs one thing Jay Collier knows for sureโheโs a statistical anomaly as the only out gay kid in his small rural Washington town. While all his friends canโt stop talking about their heterosexual hookups and relationships, Jay can only dream of his own firsts, compiling a romance to-do list of all the things he hopes to one day experienceโhis Gay Agenda.
Then, against all odds, Jayโs family moves to Seattle and he starts his senior year at a new high school with a thriving LGBTQIA+ community. For the first time ever, Jay feels like heโs found where he truly belongs. But as Jay begins crossing items off his list, heโll soon be torn between his heart and his hormones, his old friends and his new ones . . . because after all, life and love donโt always go according to plan.ย
Like a Love Song by Gabriela Martins
Release day: Aug 3
Natalie is living her dream: topping the charts and setting records as a Brazilian pop star… until she’s dumped spectacularly on live television. Not only is it humiliating–it could end her career.
Her PR team’s desperate plan? A gorgeous yet oh-so-fake boyfriend. Nati reluctantly agrees, but William is not what she expected. She was hoping for a fierce bad boy–not a soft-hearted British indie film star. While she fights her way back to the top with a sweet and surprisingly swoon-worthy boy on her arm, she starts to fall for William–and realizes that maybe she’s the biggest fake of them all. Can she reclaim her voice and her heart?
The Jasmine Project by Meredith Ireland
Release day: Sept 7
Jasmine Yapโs life is great. Well, itโs okay. Sheโs about to move in with her long-time boyfriend, Paul, before starting a nursing program at community collegeโall of which she mostly wants. But her stable world is turned upside down when she catches Paul cheating. To her giant, overprotective family, Paulโs loss is their golden ticket to showing Jasmine that she deserves much more. The only problem is, Jasmine refuses to meet anyone new.
Butโฆwhat if the family set up a situation where she wouldnโt have to know? A secret Jasmine Project.
The plan is simple: use Jasmineโs graduation party as an opportunity for her to meet the most eligible teen bachelors in Orlando. Thereโs no pressure for Jasmine to choose anyone, of course, but the family hopes their meticulously curated choices will show Jasmine how she should be treated. And maybe one will win her heart.
But with the family fighting for their favorites, bachelors going rogue, and Paul wanting her back, the Jasmine Project may not end in love but total, heartbreaking disaster.
Not Here to be Liked by Michelle Quach
Release day: Oct 19
Eliza Quan doesnโt need you to like her. She puts in more hours than anyone else and isnโt afraid to speak her mind, which makes her the perfect candidate for editor in chief of her high school paper. At least until ex-jock Len DiMartile decides on a whim to run against her. Suddenly, her vast qualifications mean squat. Eliza tries too hard (and somehow also not hard enough), while the inexperienced Len, who is tall, handsome, and male, just seems more like a leader.
When Elizaโs frustration about the sexism spills out in an essay gone viral, she finds herself at the helm of a feminist movement she never meant to start, caught between two camps at school: those who believe sheโs a gender-rights champion, and others who think sheโs simply the girl who cried misogyny.
Amid this growing tension, the administration asks Eliza and Len to work side by side to demonstrate civility. But as they get to know one another, Eliza feels increasingly trapped by a horrifying realizationโshe just might be falling for the face of the patriarchy himself.
Youโve Reached Sam by Dustin Thao
Release day: Nov 2
How do you move forward when everything you love in on the line?
Seventeen-year-old Julie has her future all planned outโmove out of her small town with her boyfriend Sam, attend college in the city, spend a summer in Japan.
But then Sam dies. And everything changes.
Heartbroken, Julie skips his funeral, throws out his things, and tries everything to forget him and the tragic way he died. But a message Sam left behind in her yearbook forces back memories. Desperate to hear his voice one more time, Julie calls Samโs cellphone just to listen to his voicemail.
And Sam picks up the phone.
In a miraculous turn of events, Julieโs been given a second chance at goodbye. The connection is temporary. But hearing Samโs voice makes her fall for him all over again, and with each call it becomes harder to let him go. However, keeping her otherworldly calls with Sam a secret isnโt easy, especially when Julie witnesses the suffering Samโs family is going through.
Unable to stand by the sidelines and watch their shared loved ones in pain, Julie is torn between spilling the truth about her calls with Sam and risking their connection and losing him forever.
About the Author:
Sarah Suk (pronounced like soup with a K) lives in Vancouver, Canada where she writes stories and admires mountains. When sheโs not writing, you can find her hanging out by the water, taking film photos, or eating a bowl of bingsu. Made in Korea is her first novel. You can visit her online at sarahsuk.com and on Twitter and Instagram @sarahaelisuk.
Made in Korea by Sarah Suk, out now!
Frankly in Loveย meetsย Shark Tankย in this feel-good romantic comedy about two entrepreneurial Korean American teens who butt headsโand maybe fall in loveโwhile running competing Korean beauty businesses at their high school.
Thereโs nothing Valerie Kwon loves more than making a good sale. Together with her cousin Charlie, they run V&C K-BEAUTY, their schoolโs most successful student-run enterprise. With each sale, Valerie gets closer to taking her beloved and adventurous halmeoni to her dream city, Paris.
Enter the new kid in class, Wes Jung, who is determined to pursue music after graduation despite his parentsโ major disapproval. When his classmates clamor to buy the K-pop branded beauty products his mom gave him to โmake new friends,โ he sees an opportunityโone that may be the key to help him pay for the music school tuition he knows his parents wonโt coverโฆ
What he doesnโt realize, though, is that he is now V&C K-BEAUTYโs biggest competitor.
Stakes are high as Valerie and Wes try to outsell each other, make the most money, and take the throne for the best business in schoolโall while trying to resist the undeniable spark thatโs crackling between them. From hiring spies to all-or-nothing bets, the competition is much more than either of them bargained for.
But one thing is clear: only one Korean business can come out on top.