With so much time to kill this summer, maybe it’s time to consider settling in with a good book. Here are some of our favorite recommendations that we’ve read this past school year. Maybe one of them will cure your boredom like they did ours.

To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before

by Jenny Han

Written by bestselling author Jenny Han, this charming YA romance follows Lara Jean Covey, a shy 16-year-old navigating difficult feelings surrounding her childhood crushes. Whenever she has a very intense crush, Lara Jean writes him a secret love letter and tucks it away in her closet for safekeeping, but when the letters are suddenly mailed out unbeknownst to her, she must avoid her feelings for her former best friend Josh, who also happens to be her older sister’s ex-boyfriend. The only way she can think to do this is to start fake dating another letter recipient, Peter, who plans to use her to make his ex-girlfriend jealous. She is suddenly removed from her quiet life and flung into high school popularity, and she seems completely lost in this new world. As she grows closer to Peter, her feelings begin turning into something real, which could completely destroy their whole scheme.

If He Had Been With Me

by Laura Nowlin

This debut novel by Laura Nowlin is the ultimate slow burn for romance fans. It introduces us to Autumn and Finny, two children who are raised next door to each other, becoming as close as family through their mothers who are already established as best friends. Throughout their elementary school they are nearly inseparable, becoming best friends, but as they grow up, their unlikely friendship fades and the distance between them grows greater and greater, until they are no longer speaking by the time they get to high school. After witnessing him get injured and fearing for his life, Autumn realizes how badly she needs Finny, and that she is in love with him. But they are both from different crowds in their high school, and they are both in long term relationships, and she believes he could never like her back. She is left to deal with these lingering feelings of unrequited love, until they grow closer again, and she begins to wonder if it was ever really one-sided.

Heartstopper

by Alice Oseman

What started as a web-comic based on side characters from previous novels, turned into a six part graphic novel series, and a major Netflix show, following the secret romance of Nick and Charlie, two teenage boys living in England. When they are randomly seated next to each other in class one day, they begin to develop feelings for each other. Fearing what others will think, Nick and Charlie hide for months, which begins to cause a strain in their already rocky relationship.

What Happens After Midnight

by K. L. Walther

What Happens After Midnight is a YA second chance romance, which features Lily, a rule-following senior, and her ex-boyfriend Tag as they attempt to pull off an epic senior prank on their boarding school. Their forced proximity to each other causes old feelings to resurface and tension to rise. This could jeopardize the years-long tradition of pranks at the school, but could also put the group at risk of being caught by campus security, which could have them all expelled just before their graduation.

The Cheerleaders

by Kara Thomas

This teenage thriller will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last page. In the small town of Sunnybrook, 16-year-old Monica Rayburn takes it upon herself to investigate a mysterious series of crimes that took place in the town five years ago which resulted in the death of five cheerleaders. Two passed away in a fatal car crash, two were murdered, and Monica’s older sister Jen even ended up taking her own life. She begins to unravel the dark secrets of the cheerleaders, making her question everything she thought she knew about her sister and her town.

Final Girl Support Group

by Grady Hendrix

The Final Girl Support Group is a support group for sole survivors of violent massacres which contains six members in the novel, who are based off of slasher movie classics like Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Halloween, Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, Scream, and others. When one of their members is murdered, the others take it upon themselves to find the killer before they can all be plucked off one by one.

The Handmaid’s Tale

by Margaret Atwood

The Handmaid’s Tale is widely considered by critics and readers alike to be a modern classic. The dystopian tale is set in the fictional republic of Gilead, which is said to take up most of the continental United States. It shows us a world facing an environmental crisis, where fertile women are enslaved and forced to bear children for the upper class. The book describes the danger of power and the early warning signs of totalitarian societies, and makes for a very interesting read.

Sunrise on the Reaping

by Suzanne Collins

The long awaited Hunger Games prequel is told from Haymitch Abernathy’s point of view and depicts his experience in the 50th Hunger Games. This book is likely the saddest and most brutal of the series, but it is a must read for fans of the original trilogy. The story shows us the backstories for many fan favorite characters, taking place only twenty five years before Katniss’ story. Due to the wide popularity of the book and the series as a whole, a film release was announced along with the book, with the movie set to be released in November.