“Every great love starts with a great story.”

— Nicholas Sparks

 

There are lots of reasons why I get invested in a story and its characters. It might be the creative world-building, or perhaps an intriguing mystery, or a great villain (even better if they have a redemption arc), or a seemingly insurmountable problem. But no matter the genre, I’m a bit of a hopeless romantic. If there’s a relationship to root for, I’ll be cheering it on.

 

With that in mind, today’s post is a tribute to all of the love stories in YA books. It’s only a snapshot of what’s out there, but it was a lot of fun to make, and my TBR list is definitely longer as a result! Thank you very much for visiting my blog today, and I hope you enjoy my latest A-Z 💕.

 

A is for Arranged (when parents think they know best)

Red Wolf by Rachel Vincent

“‘The village of Ashbourne needs you. Whether they know it or not.’

The field seemed to spin around me as I tried to make sense of what I was hearing. ‘You’re selling me in service to another village? To people I’ve never met? To a husband I’ve never even seen?’”

When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon

“As he ordered at the counter, he watched Dimple, totally relaxed in a way she hadn’t been with him, talking to Celia. And not for the first time in the past hour, Rishi wondered how his parents could’ve made such a big mistake.”

 

B is for Bad (the anti-hero love interest)

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

“His smile is laced with dynamite. ‘Go to sleep.’

‘Go to hell.’

He works his jaw. Walks to the door. ‘I’m working on it.’”

One Of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus

“Nate Macauley tips his chair back and smirks at me. ‘You make a wrong turn? This is detention, not student council.’”

 

C is for Celebrity (ordinary character meets VIP)

Once Upon A Con (series) by Ashley Poston

“I didn’t know what to say, but I wanted to reach out and touch his shoulder. We barely knew each other, but it felt like he had just admitted something to me that he’d never told anyone else before. Maybe he realized that, too, because his shoulders went rigid. I stilled my hand to keep it by my side.”

 

D is for Disguise (falling for someone you would never otherwise have fallen for)

Defy The Night by Brigid Kemmerer

“I wonder if that’s the truth she’s told herself, too. That it doesn’t matter that I was Weston Lark—because he’s dead. Now I’m just me.”

 

E is for Enemies to Lovers (or, as Shakespeare wrote, “My only love sprung from my only hate!”)

To Kill A Kingdom by Alexandra Christo

“They celebrate love as though it’s power, even though it has killed far more humans than I ever have.”

Starflight by Melissa Landers

“How did he do that? A minute ago she wanted to break his jaw, and now she had to fight the urge to pat him on the head and give him a cookie. That had to be some kind of superpower. She finally understood how he got everything he wanted in life.”

My Mechanical Romance by Alexene Farol Follmuth

“He smells like clean laundry and summer and I hate it. I hate all of it.”

 

F is for Friends to Lovers (seeing someone in a whole new light)

Ten Blind Dates by Ashley Elston

“‘I wish it was me,’ he says quietly, and my head shoots up. ‘You do?’ I ask. He gets up from the chair and moves slowly toward me. ‘I wish all the dates had been mine.’”

A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

“He kissed her, and she glowed with that feeling. The one with wings.

‘You bring the rain down on them, Pip.’”

 

G is for Ghost (the supernatural love interest)

Ghosted by Emily Barr

“‘I can’t be a ghost,’ he said. ‘I’m not dead. I’d know if I was dead, wouldn’t I?’”

You've Reached Sam by Dustin Thao

“‘I don’t want to open my eyes,’ Sam says. But the ride is about to come to its end. I can feel it. I squeeze my eyes tighter, hoping to stop time or at least slow it down. Because I don’t want to open mine, either. I don’t want to lose him. I want to keep them shut and live in this memory of us forever. I don’t want to open my eyes and see a world without Sam. But sometimes you just wake up. No matter how hard you try not to.”

A Certain Slant of Light by Laura Whitcomb

“This green place in which I stood with James turned slowly around us like a music box. All my memories returning, and all his. I could see and feel each of his days and he mine … Our lives overlapped as naturally as two blades of grass brushing together.”

H is for Historical (clothing and customs from a bygone era)

Pride and Premeditation by Tirzah Price

“Lizzie was certain that her father secretly wished she’d been born a boy, and while Lizzie had no complaints about being a young woman, sometimes she wished she weren’t a young lady.”

 

I is for Insta Love (when lightning strikes)

Opposite of Always by Justin A. Reynolds

“Don’t be afraid. Take chances. And when those don’t work out, take more.”

 

J is for Jilted (getting over a breakup by finding someone new)

A Cuban Girl's Guide to Tea and Tomorrow by Laura Taylor Namey

“Miami held my most cherished relationships, the ones I cry for in secret. Abuela. Andrés. Stefanie. My heart and body and memory are not finished with them yet.”

 

K is for Knight in Shining Armour (escaping a bad situation)

Not If I Save You First by Ally Carter

“But Logan had to laugh when he realized that he was the maiden in this scenario. And he didn’t care one bit.”

 

L is for Love Conquers All (anything is possible)

The Aurora Cycle (series) by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

“You will not lose me. I am yours forever. When the fire of the last sun fails, my love for you will still burn.”

 

M is for Meet Cute (a memorable beginning)

Breaking Magic by Alex C Vick (because Cal and Alanna = one of my favourite couples)

“‘Don’t expect me to bend down and kiss your feet just because you said sorry,’ she retorted.

‘Kiss my feet?’ I repeated. I scrunched up my toes in their dusty brown boots. She blushed bright red. Zack and Albany grinned at each other.

‘I don’t want anything from you,’ I said nervously.

‘Good, because you’re not getting it!’

‘Good, because I don’t want it!’”

 

N is for Not Enough (not everything can be fixed)

All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

“I’m broken, and no one can fix it. I’ve tried. I’m still trying. I can’t love anyone because it’s not fair to anyone who loves me back.”

 

O is for Opposites Attract (having nothing in common but falling in love anyway)

The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon

“I’m not going to fall in love with you.”

“How do you know?”

“I don’t believe in love.”

“It’s not a religion,” he says. “It exists whether you believe in it or not.”

 

P is for Proximity (characters forced together by factors outside of their control)

The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

“You don’t have to kiss me. You don’t even have to like me, Heiress, but please don’t make me do this alone.”

Twin Crowns by Catherine Doyle and Katherine Webber

“He sighed as he straightened. ‘I don’t want your money, Princess. And I don’t like the term kidnapper. I’m really more of an accomplice. Shen, the middle man. I’m just in charge of getting you from point A to point B.’”

 

Q is for Quest (when love and adventure go hand in hand)

The Bone Spindle by Leslie Vedder

“Maybe falling in love wasn’t something you dreamed about, or something you left to destiny. Maybe it was something that happened when you were having too much fun to notice.”

The Beholder by Anna Bright

“I had no idea what to make of the boy in front of me, or what to do with him, except to play his game and see if I liked it.”

 

R is for Royalty (princes and princesses are just as clueless about love as the rest of us)

The Glass Spare by Lauren DeStefano

“As though they were always meant to end up here: this boy who had murdered and stolen, and this girl made of secrets and lies, their cursed hearts pounding.”

Tokyo Ever After by Emiko Jean

“We wouldn’t have worked out long-term anyway. He likes girls who don’t wear make-up. I like guys who don’t tell girls what to do with their bodies.”

 

S is for School (love in the classroom)

Tell Me Three Things by Julie Buxbaum

“My mom once told me that the world is divided into two kinds of people: the ones who love their high school years and the ones who spend the next decade recovering from them.”

All's Fair in Love, War, and High School by Janette Rallison

“I don’t know why it’s so hard for me to find just one ideal guy. I’ve probably read a hundred romances, and every single one of them has my ideal man in it.”

 

T is for Triangle (it’s complicated)

Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

“For a moment, the three of us stare at one another in wordless comprehension. I look between the two of them—a fallen angel, and a king, the dark and the light, and feel a deep, churning thrill at what I’ve done. What we’ve done. This is how it will be now. Oaths between us. Bound to each other. Forever.”

Kate in Waiting by Becky Albertalli

“They’re both just going to make fun of us for having yet another communal crush. According to Riana, Anderson and I are enmeshed, which basically means we’re codependent. Apparently some people believe falling in love is a thing you’re supposed to do on your own.”

 

U is for Unrequited (loving someone who doesn’t feel the same—or do they?)

Catching Jordan by Miranda Kenneally

“One thing I learned a long time ago is that even if you think you’re meant to be with someone, that doesn’t necessarily mean you get to be with them.”

 

V is for Vampire (a classic: the love interest with fangs)

Metallic Red by Jennifer Ann Shore

“I closed my eyes and tried my best to think of anything other than the delicious, metallic scent of blood. When the bell rang, I was relieved to open my eyes and discover that everyone around me was too caught up in their own selves to see the half-human, half-vampire teetering on the brink of insanity.”

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black

“Even from the beginning, that was the problem. People liked pretty things. People even liked pretty things that wanted to kill and eat them.”

 

W is for Wealth (one character has it and the other doesn’t)

The Distance Between Us by Kasie West

“‘And you are?’ He meets my eyes.

‘Her daughter.’ I know he’s asking for my name, but I don’t want to give it. The first thing I learned about the rich is that they find the common folk an amusing distraction but would never, ever want anything real. And that’s fine with me.”

 

X is for Ex (when the Ex is still in the picture)

Chain of Gold by Cassandra Clare

“I am a Herondale. We love but once.”

“That is only a story.”

“Haven’t you heard?” James said bitterly. “All the stories are true.”

Heartbreak Boys by Simon James Green

“I don’t know why other people have to make things so hard.”

 

Y is for Your Own Perspective (there is no “one size fits all” when it comes to love)

Loveless by Alice Oseman

“I used to dream of a spellbinding, endless, forever romance. A beautiful story of meeting a person who could change your whole world. But now, I realised, friendship could be that too.”

 

Z is for Zigzag (“The course of true love never did run smooth” –Shakespeare)

This is Not the Jess Show (duology) by Anna Carey

“I tried to get a better view into the car, to see Kipps one last time, but the door slipped down in front of me, closing him off. Then the car pulled away, ripping down a deserted road. And just like that, Kipps was gone.”