Spring Book Recommendations 🌺 Romance, Contemporaries & Low Stakes

Hello fellow bookworms 🌺 It’s Springtime again and I realized that I’ve never done a recommendation post for this season yet. That’s why today I’ll be talking about 8 books that give me spring vibes // that would be the perfect books to read this spring ❤️ I’ve included some emojis that I associate with spring to make it even more fun! I’m also adding the age category/genre and some buzzwords – inspired by Sophie @ Me and Ink who always does the best recommendation posts 🥰

What does constitute a spring read for me in the first place? Here are some genres and themes that I like to read in springtime:

• Contemporary books with a focus on character development
• Swoonworthy Romance books
• Fantasy books with low stakes
• Books with lovable characters and lots of banter

🌺 Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute (Talia Hibbert)

YA Contemporary ❤️ Ex-Best Friends ❤️ Banter & Competition

“Even if neither of us ever did anything interesting in our entire lives, it wouldn’t matter. You don’t need to be special or significant to have value. You’re just important, always, and people either see that or they don’t. They either love you, or they don’t.”

➽ Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute is about two ex-best friends who are taking part in a scholarship competition. It’s told in dual POV and I loved Celine and Brad so much! Both of them had a falling out years ago, but still have to interact in school and this outdoor competition they sign up for. I loved the banter and tension between them, especially as we unravel why they are no longer friends. The romance was cute and I loved how the story tackled some serious topic while also staying light-hearted 💕

🌻 Begin Again (Emma Lord)

YA Contemporary ❤️ College Setting ❤️ Secret Societies

“What are you doing at three P.M. tomorrow?” “Staring into a metaphysical pit and questioning every math-related life choice I’ve ever made?”

➽ Begin Again is about Andie, a psychology student who’s starting her first semester at university. It’s the college her deceased mother used to work at, so the place holds a lot of emotions for her and she’s determined to get involved in the secret societies that are part of the campus. I loved seeing her develop meaningful friendships and manage her very confusing love life. Normally I’m not a fan of the main character starting the book with a boyfriend, but here it was actually handled well!

🌼 Seven Percent of Ro Devereux (Ellen O’Clover)

YA Contemporary ❤️ Ex-Best Friends ❤️ Technology

“We are not only the things you’ve proven us to be with this algorithm. There will always be a space that separates us from computers, a gray area in which we are shaped by the influence of new friends, and inevitable surprises, and love. Still, after a decades-long career in behavioral sciences, there are so many things about us I can’t understand. They’re unquantifiable. They are what make us human.”

➽ Seven Percent of Ro Devereux is about a high school student who builds an app that can predict the future. It’s based on the game MASH and when Ro gets the chance to make her app popular, she teams up with a firm. I loved the discussion of human behavior, the accuracy of technology, and how far we can predict the future. This book had a lot of heart and I loved how the family dynamics, friendships, and the romance were handled – it all felt very authentic 🥰

🌷 The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches (Sangu Mandanna)

Adult Fantasy ❤️ Found Family ❤️ Witches

“It’s a leap of faith to love people and let yourself be loved. It’s closing your eyes, stepping off a ledge into nothing, and trusting that you’ll fly rather than fall. I can’t step off the ledge for you. It’s something only you can do.”

➽ The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches is about Mika, an accomplished witch who is hired to teach three young witches in the countryside. Witches have to keep their magic a secret from normal humans and I loved how this book discussed the loneliness and isolation that can cause. I also loved how cozy this book was, there are some stakes but the story felt very comforting and is full of found family vibes 🥺 If you liked The House in the Cerulean Sea, this is a great book to check out!

🌹 A Deal with the Elf King (Elise Kova)

NA Fantasy Romance ❤️ Elves ❤️ Nature Magic

“If things were different, you wouldn’t have been you.” He finally looks back to me. His once icy eyes are now tepid pools as inviting and warm as the creeks I would strip bare and swim in underneath the redwood trees deep in the forests around the temple. “And I’ve found I’m very fond of exactly the woman you are. I wouldn’t change a single thing.”

➽ A Deal with the Elf King is about a young woman who finds out she’s the destined bride of the Elf King. Luella is her town’s healer and every hundred years, a new girl is taken to the fae realm to become the Mortal Queen. Unaware of her own powers, she suddenly finds her world turned upside down when she is whisked away to be married 👀 I loved the enemies to lovers/arrange marriage trope with the Elf King, especially as there was such a great contrast between them. Luella has nature magic and stands for life, while the Elf King has death magic!

🌸 This Is Not a Personal Statement (Tracy Badua)

YA Contemporary ❤️ College Setting ❤️ Messy MC

“I used to joke that living in Monte Verde is like living in a pressure cooker, but that isn’t all that funny. I’m only beginning to unravel the ways in which this entire school complex – my family included – enforced these unrealistic expectations on us. […] We’ve just been struggling to find our own ways to work with the dysfunction”

➽ This Is Not a Personal Statement is about Perla, an overachiever bound for a prestigious university. The only problem? She fakes her acceptance letter and is now on campus, trying to figure out why she didn’t get in 😱 I loved the premise, as it was a fresh take on a contemporary college setting and had a lot of stakes! Perla is afraid to admit her failure to her strict parents and is constantly under threat of being discovered. This made for such a fast-paced book and I was intrigued to see how Perla would keep up her little ‘heist’!

☔ Weather Girl (Rachel Lynn Solomon)

Adult Romance ❤️ “Weather Girl” MC ❤️ Depression Rep

“What I’m realizing,” I continue, “is that I like myself the most when I’m around you. And I think it’s because I’m the most honest version of myself. I don’t have to try as hard, and I don’t have to hide. I can just . . . be.”

➽ Weather Girl is about Ari – the weather girl – and Russel – a sports reporter – trying to set their divorced bosses up for a second chance. The working environment has turned toxic with the constant fighting and Ari feels like she has become stagnant with a boss that doesn’t care much about offering feedback or advice. While trying to play matchmaker, Ari and Russel get closer together themselves 🥰 I loved the shenanigans they got up to, but also appreciated the depression representation and the fact that Russel is a single dad of a lovely daughter!

🌿 A Lady for a Duke (Alexis Hall)

Adult Historical Romance ❤️ Trans MC ❤️ Mutual Pining

“I don’t see what use we can be to others if we must deny our own most fundamental selves. We all have the right to be recognized for who we are.”

➽ A Lady for a Duke is about Viola, a trans woman, who reunites with her childhood best friend. Gracewood thinks his best friend died in the war and has no idea about Viola’s transition. When she reappears in his life, she’s torn about revealing who she is and quickly begins pining for Gracewood. The romance was so swoony and full of tenderness! It was lovely to see a historical romance that was so funny and didn’t have any explict transphobia! The book is quite lengthy but definitely worth it 💕

Have you read any of the books on my list? What books do you think are perfect for spring? 🌺