The Perks of Teen Romance Novels

Going to an all-girls school, you tend to hear a lot about the latest and greatest teen romance novel that’s circulating through the year level. Yes, it’s kind of a cliché for teenage girls to be reading romance novels but how can anyone resist the sweet, sappy and adorable words spoken by the fictional heartthrobs we wish were real?

Here’s a few titles that I loved.


Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins


Although it sounds cheesy, this book is my absolute favourite. Set in Paris, the city famous for romance, the protagonist of the novel Anna Oliphant is sent away from her hometown of Atlanta, Georgia to spend her senior year in France.

Now most people would leap at the chance to spend the year abroad in a foreign city as beautiful as Paris but not Anna. If she had her way, she would’ve stayed at home with her family, friends and a budding romance. Then Anna meets the charming, intelligent and oh-so-attractive Ètienne St. Clair who – naturally – she begins to fall head-over-heels for.

If you’re someone who enjoys a good romance novel filled with tension and attraction (not to mention set in the ‘City of Light’!), then Anna and the French Kiss is the perfect book for you.



Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles


Everybody says opposites attract right? Well in this novel, this statement becomes a reality for Alex Fuentes, a Mexican gang member and Brittany Ellis, head cheerleader and beauty queen.

Perfect Chemistry is the first novel in a steamy and fiery trilogy with the next two books – Rules of Attraction and Chain Reaction – following the life of Alex’s two younger brother’s, Carlos and Luis. Throughout the novel, we see the attraction between Alex and Brittany blossom into a passionate romance which defies their stereotypes.

Similar to West Side Story the story is set in a town divided – the ‘Mexican gangs’ rule the south side while the ‘rich white kids’ stay on the north side – and anyone who enjoys a good star-crossed lovers’ story will love this series.



The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han


The final books I’ll mention here are the three in The Summer Trilogy. Beginning with The Summer I Turned Pretty, this series follows Isabel ‘Belly’ Conklin’s continuous struggle to choose between two boys she’s known and loved her whole life – Conrad and Jeremiah Fisher.

Primarily set at ‘the summer house’, The Summer Trilogy is a beautiful and romantic story. In the first novel, Belly is seriously crushing on Conrad, the older Fisher whom she has loved since she was little. This romance takes places at the beach; the one place Belly is able to be free. As the series continues, Belly has to come to terms with her simultaneous attraction for Conrad’s brother, Jeremiah.

Along with the help of the brother’s mother Susannah, Belly’s own mother Laurel, her annoying older brother Steven and the Fisher boys themselves, Belly must decide which brother she really wants – before she loses them both.

Anyone who’s a fan of Twilight, The Vampire Diaries or any other love triangle story, will likely be equally hooked on this series.



Emilia Feneziani is doing work experience with Readings.