April needs a little drama, don’t you think? This month, we want bright, clear skies, warm weather, and plenty of entertainment. Turning to our bookshelves, this means packing our TBR with high-stakes relationships and major life changes. Can you handle the early summer antics that are blooming, or are you looking for safer, cozier reads?
Check out our April must-reads below.
If you like: Los Angeles, drama, contemporary, small towns, coming-of-age stories
The Blue Dress by Rebecca Morrison
The pressure is on for Yasmin. Puberty is making everything weird, and since her family emigrated from Iran, everything is changing, and it’s not always for the better.
Yasmin wants to fit in at school, but she’s insecure about her eyebrows, her curly hair, and how perfect her best friend Carmen is. At home, Yasmin’s mom pushes her to lose weight. She even goes so far as to sew Yasmin a blue dress for the Persian New Year, making it a size too small on purpose.
Being perfect feels like the only option, but meeting everyone’s expectations might take more from Yasmin than she can give.
If you like: Coming of age, middle school, family stories
Prodigal Tiger by Samantha Chong
Caroline was a danger to her family, but now she’s their only hope.
Summoned home to Malaysia from a five-year exile at a magical academy in New York City, Caroline Chua feels like she’s the only one working to find her missing older brother. Aaron is next in line to become the Protector of the Island, but he’s also missing. The council wants Caroline to keep her head down now that she’s back in Penang, but she doesn’t need anyone’s permission to go looking for Aaron.
Caroline finds that she might actually need help when it turns out that Aaron was kidnapped by vengeful ghosts who want to use him to take the island’s magic and assume control of town during the Hungry Ghost Festival. Facing down a challenge bigger than she imagined, Caroline will have to rebuild the relationships she left behind when she was sent to New York City if she wants to save Aaron.
If you like: Mythology, magic, fantasy, redemption stories
Inbetweens by Faith Erin Hicks
Ash and Sloane are twins, which means they obviously share a lot, but beyond sharing a birthday, they share a dream. The twins want to be animators when they grow up. So…attending an intensive animation summer camp should be a dream come true then.
Right?
Turns out summer camp isn’t about living your dreams and everything going perfectly. Sloane has less enthusiasm for camp than she thought she would, and Ash finds that maybe she isn’t as good at animation as she thought. These challenges have the twins drifting apart, and soon, the summer camp adventure that was supposed to be a dream come true might just be a disaster if they can’t come back together.
If you like: Graphic novels, art, summer camp
Here For A Good Time by Kim Spencer
It’s 1990. A new decade would have been same old same old for Morgan who has lived in Prince Rupert, British Columbia her whole life. Her mom left when she was 10, and she’s been alone with her fisherman father, a hard worker and heavy drinker, ever since. Things aren’t great, but they’re what she knows.
Or they are until Morgan ends up going to an alternative school instead of a local public high school. There she meets Nate who aside from being cute becomes a great friend, especially when truths from her families past start to come out. Could these unraveling secrets mean a fresh start?
If you like: Contemporary, realism, coming of age, high school