Sometimes you just need a read that’s going to life your spirits and restore your faith in humanity, are we right? Sometimes we don’t even need something on such a large scale. Sometimes, just a book that will make you feel a little better, a little happier, a little safer, will do.
Look no further, because we’ve rounded up some of our favorite feel-good books! From the funny to the heartwarming, this list has a little bit of everything.
You are reading: Feel good books for young adults
read on for our favorite recs that we know will make you feel warm and fuzzy inside!
feel good books that will make you feel warm and relaxed inside
1. a true love for elise bryant
lenore bennett has always been a force. A star artist and style icon at Ella’s high school, she’s a master of the subtle art of not giving a. . . well, you know what. But now that graduation is here, she’s a little less confident.
he heads to nyu in the fall with a scarlet u (for “undeclared”) written on his chest. His parents always remind him that black kids can’t afford to find out on the spot, they have to be 110 percent prepared. But it’s a lot of pressure to be her ancestor’s wildest dreams when Lenore still isn’t sure what her dreams are.
When her family embarks on a post-graduation Mediterranean cruise, her friend Tessa is sure Lenore is in for a whirlwind romance. but lenore knows that doesn’t happen to girls like her.
then he meets alex lee. after her parents bond over cupid’s concoction, she ends up stuck with him for the rest of the cruise. he is a hopeless romantic and a golden boy with a ten year plan. In short, he’s irritating as hell.
But as they get to know each other during picturesque stops in Europe, Alex can help Lenore find something else she’s been looking for, even if she doesn’t want to admit it: love.
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2. xoxo by axie oh
Jenny didn’t get to be a classically trained, award-winning cellist without choosing practice over fun. that is, until the night she meets jaewoo. Mysterious, handsome, and a bit haunted, Jaewoo is exactly the kind of distraction Jenny would normally avoid. And yet, she is forced to spend an unforgettable evening strolling through Los Angeles with him the night before her flight back to South Korea.
with jaewoo an ocean away, there’s no use dreaming of what might have been. But when Jenny and her mother move to Seoul to care for her sick grandmother, who does she meet at the elite arts academy she’s just been accepted into? jaewoo.
Finding the strange dreamer who swept you off your feet in your classroom is one thing, but jaewoo isn’t just any student. It turns out that Jaewoo is a member of one of the biggest K-pop bands in the world. And like most K-pop idols, Jaewoo is strictly forbidden to date.
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3. julie murphy pudding
millie michalchuk has been going to fat camp every year since she was a little girl. not this year. She this year she has new plans to pursue her secret dream of being a newscaster and kissing the boy she likes.
Callie Reyes is the cute girl next in line to be captain of the dance team and she has the popular boyfriend. but when it comes to other girls, she’s more friend-foe than friend.
When circumstances bring the girls together over the course of a semester, they surprise everyone (especially themselves) by realizing they might have more in common than they ever imagined.
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4. leah in the offbeat by becky albertalli
When it comes to drumming, Leah Burke is often in the know, but real life isn’t always so rhythmic.
She is an anomaly in her group of friends: the only daughter of a young single mother, and her life is decidedly less privileged. she loves to draw but she is too shy to show it. And even though her mom knows she’s bisexual, she hasn’t worked up the courage to tell her friends, not even her openly gay best friend, Simon Ella.
leah really doesn’t know what to do when her solid group of friends starts to fracture in unexpected ways. With prom and college on the horizon, tensions run high.
It’s hard for Leah to strike the right note while the people she loves are fighting, especially when she realizes she might love one of them more than she ever thought.
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5. the way you make me feel by maurene goo
From the author of I Believe in a Thing Called Love, a laugh-out-loud story of love, new friendships, and one unique food truck.
clara shin lives for pranks and disruption. When she takes a prank too far, her father sentences her to work for the summer at her food truck, the Kobra, alongside her uptight classmate, Rose Carver. not the carefree summer that Clara had imagined. but maybe the rose isn’t so bad. maybe the boy named hamlet (yes, hamlet) in love with her is very cute. maybe clara really feels involved in her father’s business. What if taking this summer seriously means Clara has to leave her old self behind?
With Maurene Goo’s trademark warmth and humor, The Way You Make Me Feel is a relatable story about falling in love and finding yourself in places you never thought to look.
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6. i see london i see france by sarah mlynowski
nineteen-year-old sydney has the perfect summer planned. She will spend the next four and a half weeks traveling Europe with her childhood best friend, Leela. her plans include eiffel tower selfies, eating cocco ice cream and making out with three hot strangers.
His plans don’t include leela’s cheating ex-boyfriend showing up on the flight to london, falling for the cheating ex-boyfriend’s très sexy friend, monitoring his mother’s sanity via text, or feeling the rope. in a friendship pull. of war.
In this hilarious and unforgettable adventure, New York Times bestselling author Sarah Mlynowski tells the story of a girl who learns to navigate secret romances, thorny relationships and the London Underground. As Sydney weaves through Amsterdam, Switzerland, Italy and France, she must learn when to hold on, when to keep moving and when to jump onto the Riviera…wearing only her polka dot boxer shorts.
- buy i see london, i see france now!
7. send it by britta lundin
CLAIRE is a sixteen-year-old fangirl obsessed with the show Demon Heart. FOREST is an actor on Demon Heart who dreams of bigger roles. When the two meet at a local Comic-Con panel, it’s a dream come true for Claire. Until the Q&A, that is, when Forest laughs off Claire’s assertion that his character is gay.
claire is devastated. After all, every last word of Ella’s superpopular fanfic revolves around the romance between Forest’s character and her male friend. she can’t believe that her hero turned out to be a closed-minded idiot. forest is mostly confused that anyone would think her character is gay. because she’s not definitely not.
Unfortunately for demon heart, when video of the disastrous Q&A session goes viral, the producers have a PR nightmare on their hands. To help bolster her image within the LGBTQ+ community, as well as her fans, Claire is hired to join the cast for the remainder of her publicity tour. What follows is a series of colorful comic-con showdowns between the fans and the show that lead Forest to question her assumptions about her sexuality and help Claire come out of her shell. But how far will Claire go to make her ship canon? How far will Forest go to stop her and protect her career? And will Claire ever have the guts to make a move on Tess, the very cute and extremely cool fanartist she meets? ship it is a funny, sweet and honest look at all the feelings that come with being a fan.
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8. when dimple met rishi by sandhya menon
Dimple Shah has it all figured out. With graduation behind her, she’s more than ready for a break from her family—and from Mamma’s inexplicable obsession with her finding the “Ideal Indian Husband.” Ugh. Dimple knows they must respect her principles on some level, though. If they truly believed she needed a husband right now, they wouldn’t have paid for her to attend a summer program for aspiring web developers…right?
See Also: Pomonas Magic Door Books not yet ready to turn the page after tragedy – Daily Bulletin
rishi patel is a hopeless romantic. so when his parents tell him that her future wife will be attending the same summer program, where he’ll have to court her, he’s all for it. because as silly as it sounds to most people in your life, rishi wants it to be fixed, believes in the power of tradition, stability and being a part of something a lot bigger than himself.
The Shahs and Patels hadn’t intended to start spinning the wheels of this “suggested fix” so early in their children’s lives, but when they noticed they were both gravitating toward the same summer schedule, they thought, why not?
dimple and rishi may think they’ve figured each other out. But when opposites collide, love works hard to prove itself in the most unexpected ways.
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9. to all the boys i’ve loved before by jenny han
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is the story of Lara Jean, who has never openly admitted her crushes, but instead wrote each boy a letter about how she felt, sealed it, and hid it in a box under her bed.
But one day, Lara Jean discovers that her secret box of letters has somehow been mailed, causing all the lovebirds from her past to confront her about the letters: her first kiss, the boy from camp summer, even her sister’s ex-boyfriend. , jose.
As she learns to come to grips with her past loves, Lara Jean discovers that some good may come from these letters after all.
- shop all the boys i’ve loved before now!
10. nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn & david levitan
It all starts when Nick asks Norah to be his girlfriend for five minutes. he only needs five minutes to avoid his ex-girlfriend, who just walked into her band’s show. with a new guy. And then, with a kiss, Nick and Norah embark on an adventure against the backdrop of New York City, and right in the middle of all the joy, anxiety, confusion, and excitement of a first date. /p>
He Said/She Said Romance as told by stars Rachel Cohn and David Levithan is a sexy and funny rollercoaster of a very long date night story with two teenagers, both recovering from broken hearts, who are just trying to figure out who they want to be and where the next big band is going to play.
Told in alternate chapters, packed with musical references, humor, angst, and endearing supporting characters, this is a love story you’ll wish were yours.
- add nick & norah’s endless playlist in your good read library!
11. the positive side of unrequited by becky albertalli
Seventeen-year-old Molly Peskin-Suso knows all about unrequited love. No matter how many times her twin sister, Cassie, tells her to woman up, Molly can’t stomach the idea of rejection. So she’s careful. Fat girls always have to be careful.
Then a cute new girl enters Cassie’s orbit, and for the first time, Molly’s cynical twin is a lovesick mess. Meanwhile, Molly isn’t dying of loneliness, except for the part she’s in. Fortunately, Cassie’s new girlfriend comes with a cute hipster-boy sidekick. If Molly can win him over, she’ll get her first kiss and get her twin back.
There’s only one problem: Molly’s co-worker, Reid. He’s a pudgy Tolkien superfan with a season pass to Ren Faire, and there’s no way Molly will fall for him. right?
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12. geekerella by ashley poston
Geek girl Elle Wittimer lives and breathes Starfield, the classic science-fiction series she grew up watching with her late father. So when she sees a cosplay contest for a new Starfield movie, she has to enter. The prize? An invitation to the ExcelsiCon Cosplay Ball and a meet-and-greet with the actor slated to play Federation Prince Carmindor in the reboot. With savings from her gig at the Magic Pumpkin food truck and her dad’s old costume, Elle’s determined to win – unless her stepsisters get there first.
Teen actor darien freeman used to live for scams, before he was famous. now it’s just autographs and awkward meet-and-greets. Playing Carmindor is all he’s ever wanted, but the Starfield fandom has written him off as just another goofy heartthrob. As Excelsicon draws closer, Darien feels more and more like a fraud, until he meets a girl who shows him otherwise. but when she disappears at midnight, will he ever be able to find her again?
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13. love & lucky by jenna evans welch
Addie is visiting Ireland for her aunt’s over-the-top destination wedding, and hoping she can stop thinking about the one horrible thing she did that left her miserable and heartbroken—and threatens her future. But her brother, Ian, isn’t about to let her forget, and his constant needling leads to arguments and even a fistfight between the two once inseparable siblings. Miserable, Addie can’t wait to visit her friend in Italy and leave her brother—and her problems—behind.
So when Addie discovers an unusual guide, Ireland for the Heartbroken, hidden on the dusty shelves of the hotel library, she can finally escape her anxious mind and Ian’s criticism.
and then they change their travel plans. Suddenly, Addie finds herself on a dizzying tour of the Emerald Isle, trapped in the world’s smallest vehicle with Ian and Ella’s friend Rowan, admittedly cute and with an Irish accent. As the trio travels over stunning green hills, past countless castles, and through a series of fairytale forests, Addie hopes her guidance will heal not only her broken heart, but also her shattered relationship with her brother. That is, if they don’t get completely lost along the way.
See Also: Best Running Books 2022 – The Top Reads for All Runners
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