Middle Grade March and three 5-⭐️ YA rom coms

And did I change the name of my newsletter again? Perhaps...

Mar 11, 2022

First, the elephant in the newsletter: yes! I did change the name of my newsletter again. I really loved For the love of kidlit and YA, but let’s be honest, it was too long. Young at Heart is a phrase that’s been on my mind in regards to books since I first wrote about it in 2018. I still plan to focus my writing here primarily on reading and writing middle grade/YA, with some slice of life and writing updates, and anything library-related that I feel inspired to pass on from my classes I’m taking.

Are you aware of the internet phenomenon that is Middle Grade March? It’s pretty self-explanatory: it’s where a whole bunch of us book-lovers i.e. bookstagrammers and book-tubers (readers, they’re called readers!) try to read a whole bunch of middle grade books in the month of march. There are weekly challenges, category goals, and a group read.

You can get all the details here!

Here’s what’s on my MGM TBR in the challenge categories:

Book with an orphan main character: CITY SPIES: FORBIDDEN CITY by James Ponti (book 3 in this fantastic series)

Contemporary: MIDNIGHT IN THE PIAZZA by Tiffany Parks

5+ words in the title: THE LION, THE WITCH, AND THE WARDROBE* by C.S. Lewis

Asian main character: STAND UP, YUMI CHUNG! by my friend Jessica Kim

Written before you were born: CADDIE WOODLAWN* by Carol Ryrie Brink & HEIDI by Johanna Spyri

Group read: PONY by RJ Palacio

Not sure if I will actually get to all these, and there are still so many others (!!) I want to read. But this is a fun starting place.

*these two are for my daughter’s 5th grade book club that I lead each unit (6/year). I’ll be listening to these since they are re-reads. I haven’t read CW since I was a kid, and I’ll be honest, it’s got some problematic/racist language.

YA contemporary romance/rom com has long been a favorite genre of mine. I’ve written a few of these stories myself and I love reading them. But I think in the last year, I sort of fell into a YA rom com slump. Luckily, the publishing industry and my library holds gave me a birthday gift last month: we went away on a weekend trip and since it was my birthday weekend, I got to do whatever I wanted, which meant all the beach reading. I read several fantastic books, three of which were 5-⭐️ YA rom coms. All of them are sweet, great for all teen and up romance-lovers (nothing inappropriate for younger readers in my opinion), and feature protagonists finding love and also having character growth in other areas of their lives at the same time.

XOXO by Axie Oh (2021)— fun with k-pop, surprise second-chance meeting, drool-worthy food, enemies-to-friendship? roommate situation, boarding school setting

WHEN YOU GET THE CHANCE by Emma Lord (just published in 2022) — rivals to love, Broadway in the spotlight, summer job hijinx, father-daughter sweetness + a search for mom

BETTER THAN THE MOVIES by Lynn Painter (2021)— fake dating, a MC figuring out who she really is, my new favorite YA book boyfriend, a tender look at grief, all the movie quotes/soundtrack references

(also pictured/also 5-stars/NOT YA): FINLAY DONOVAN KNOCKS ‘EM DEAD

You can read my reviews on Storygraph or Instagram, but if you like YA rom coms, I suggest you grab a copy of each of these immediately! 🥰

One more bit of fun to share. I came across this website in one of my Library Tech classes. If you want a little laugh/head shake, be sure to check out Awful Library Books, which is a blog that features books that have been weeded out of/removed from library collections for one reason or another (complete with commentary).

Happy reading and writing, friends!

xo,

Nicole

Middle Grade March and three 5-⭐️ YA rom coms

And did I change the name of my newsletter again? Perhaps...

Discussion about this post