Books Which Made Me A Fan Of The YA Contemporary Genre

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1. Duff by Kody Keplinger

We all have heard about the movie but trust me a large chunk of the plot was missing . It revolves around Bianca who ends up realising due to Wesley her nemesis that she is the Duff (Designated Ugly Fat Friend) of her friend circle. So Bianca always showed every one that she was super confident not inside her head we realise her insecurities . When her ex boyfriend comes back to town who is also one of her best friend’s elder brother she starts spending a lot of time with Wesley (to cut it short they start having lot of sex) and even after that guy leaves she sticks to Wesley to not think to much about her own parents divorce. It was really sweet to see how they both became such good friends.The book revolves around labels we give to people such as fat , thin , slut , man-whore. It talks about how we just judge people to make ourselves feel better and less shittier for what we ourselves are.! It has touched on a serious topic amazingly and would make you laugh the whole time. And the chemistry between the leads is really good. At the end of the day you will fall in love with Bianca , her wit and Wesley.The author has referenced books like Scarlet Letter and Withering Heights metaphorically . The book overall talks about consensus sex , teenage insecurities , friendship , parents & their relationship with kids . And this book definitely cemented Kody Keplinger as one of my favourite best YA Contemporary author.

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2. Royally Lost by Angie Stanton

This book made me fall in love with Central and Eastern Europe . It revolves around Becca who has come with her family for a trip before college starts . She is not super excited about college or the European history and wants to discover herself and do volunteer work just as her mom did back when she was her age. The book has focused on her emotions revolving around her mom passing away a few years back , a distant father , a step-mom who wants to create a connection and a super cool twin brother. She meets Nikolai a crown-prince of a small European Country during her travel ( though she doesn’t know he is a prince till half way through the book) . Becca is on a cruise on Danube with different spots everyday . It was really fun to see Nikolai chase all over Europe just to see her and talk to her. Nikolai is on the run from his country due to the extreme pressure of continuing his kingdom the same way his dad is . The book is about both the main characters trying to figure out what they want from their own future and not the curated version of their parents with a super sweet romance & friendship developing roughly from the very first moment they meet each other . I really enjoy reading books where couples have numerous conversations between each other giving us a glimpse that this is how strong relationships are created.

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3.Shut Out by Kody Keplinger

I am still proud of myself till date that I read this book because it taught me so much about sex and everyone’s comfort with it . The author again and again repeats in the book that do what you feel is comfortable and not what your piers say or what your partner/boyfriend says and above all don’t be ashamed of your choices or degrade others for theirs. This book revolves around Lissa who is tired with the war between the boys football and soccer team and also of her boyfriend considering their couple time less important than the rivalry. This leads to all the girlfriends of all the guys in the two teams starting a sex strike. Which leads to many weekly girl sleepovers and this was kinda the best part seeing all of them becoming such good friends . The book also focuses on how Lisa lost a friend to the rivalry and how they start becoming close again. And the swooniest part about the book was Cash ( not the boyfriend , thank god) . Lisa and Cash become close friends while working in the public library together and their is just this underlying tension between both of them from the first moment they are introduced together in the book.

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4. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

This book is my absolute jam . I have re-read it so many times that even I have forgotten the count and can actually verbally say various dialogues the main couple have in the book and the peculiarly beautiful descriptions used in the book. This book centers around Cath’s first year in college divided into two parts . The plotline revolves around Cath coming to college with her twin sister Wren and Wren trying to make a separate identity for herself which leads to a divide between them , Cath making a few new friends who are her roommate , her roommates supposed boyfriend Levi and a classmate from her creative writing class , and Cath writing Simon Shaw fan-fiction . Though the author has not mentioned exclusively it becomes pretty clear that Cath has social – anxiety as we see that for a month she is not ready to go to the canteen and her only friends are the one who keep on purposely coming in her life and how she sometimes requests her dad that she get to come back home and do college their . The best part about this book for me was Levi , who is from the very beginning trying to woo Cath which Cath doesn’t notice , how he was always smiling and happy which makes him equivalent to a firework when he and Cath finally start going out together . He was the person who made me realise that audio books are still books . How he loved her fanfiction and knew that it was what made her comfortable , and makes her realise that even apart from fan fiction she had a voice which needed to be heard . It was quite ironic & at the same time sweet to see two people come together out of which one loves writing and the other who couldn’t read ( due to certain concentration issues). Due to this reason you see many times Cath reading to Levi in the book.

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THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING THIS POST!!

HAVE YOU READ ANY OF THESE OR PLAN TO.?

AND WHICH YA BOOKS MADE YOU A FAN OF THE GENRE ??

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