We all had that one phase in our lives than we were just obsessed with someone enough to read fictional stories based on them. The fanfiction world is not new to anyone, and even if it is, its concept is pretty predictable: cliché love stories that are easy to read and understand.
So how can you stick to that kind of book but in a more mature writing? Put your hair in a messy bun and grab your coffee cup or your tea because that’s what this is all about. Here are some books that have that fanfiction-kind-of-vibe.
- Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks
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We can’t write about sappy romances without mentioning the one and only: Nicholas Sparks.
This book is about a woman named Katie who moves to a small town in North Carolina, running away from her painful past relationship. There, she develops a relationship with Alex, a store owner, dad of two kids, and befriends Jo, her neighbor. The whole story is sentimental and touching – since its Sparks we’re talking about.
The novel is so good that it became a movie 3 years after it was released, with well-known cast featuring Julianne Hough, Josh Duhamel and Cobie Smulders
- Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen
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Lock and Key talks about a lighthearted teenage love. It’s the perfect book to read in the summer.
Its plot revolves around a girl named Ruby, whose mom abandoned, and with that she moves to her sister’s house. Now in a private posh school, the girl gets to know new people that are really different from her and the cute boy next door (obviously).
However, the length can scare some people: the book is 432 pages long, evidencing its slow pace, even with the plot being really easy to read though.
- Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
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The story revolves around Cath, a college freshman who loves to write fanfiction about her favorite characters from a famous book series. She used to write it with her twin sister, Wren, but as college starts, they start to grow apart since she finds it “babyish”.
Cath is a personification of the stereotypical introvert who prefers staying at her dorm writing and reading rather than going out, which is completely the opposite of Wren, who is outgoing and more “sociable”, generically speaking.
It’s pretty obvious why this book is here: a college girl that grew up writing fanfiction and who now has to deal with the whole “you’re an adult now” kind of responsibility. Can it get more relatable? I don’t think so.
- Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell
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Set in the 80’s, the plot of Eleanor and Park revolves around the love story of two teens, Eleanor and Park (I know, shocking), who feel like outcasts in life. The red-hair girl is new in town and has a chaotic home life, while the half-Korean boy is more quiet, but reasonably popular in their school.
Sitting next to each other on the bus every day, they start bonding over music and fall in love at their own pace.
This story shows what is like to be young and in love, making us love the “normal girl falls in love with the hot guy” kind of vibe.
Rowell’s work even won John Green, the author of “The Fault in Our Stars”, over, winning a review from him published on The New York Times website with “Two Against the World” as the headline.
Eleanor and Park is emotional and beautifully written, definitely worth the read.
- The Boy Next Door by Meg Cabot
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Meg Cabot is known for writing romances for teens and adults. She has over fifty books published, having The Princess Diaries as her best-seller.
The Boy Next Door was published in 2002, being Cabot’s debut adult novel. The plot is about Melissa Fuller, a New York City gossip columnist, and the mysterious grandson of her neighbor, Max, who is a famous fashion photographer, known for dating lots of girls. However, after her neighbor, Ms. Friedlander, is attacked and sent to the hospital, where she falls in coma, Melissa gets to meet Max, discovering that he’s way different from what people say, being funny and down to earth.
What’s really authentic about this book is that it’s written entirely in emails, that basically work as the “narrative” in the story.
- Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
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This heartwarming coming-of-age story is the cliché friends-into-lovers but in a perfect way.
The book tells the story of two friends aged 15, Aristotle, an angry lonely teen whose brother is in prison and Dante, a “smarty pants” who sees the world in a different way. They meet during summer and start to hang out, becoming great friends. Soon enough, they start to develop feelings for each other.
Aristotle and Dante has a deep view into sexuality and your own identity, since it portraits a gay relationship. The writing is very simple, concise and sincere, making the book really easy to read.
- Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
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Anna and the French Kiss was published in 2010, being Perkins’s debut novel.
The plot revolves around an American girl, named Anna, who is forced by her father to move to France, to an American school in Paris. There, Anna meets Étienne St. Clair, a short-tempered boy. However, there’s a problem: he’s taken, and Anna might be too (if her crush back in the US confesses).
This book is filled with intelligent conversations about culture, language and history, making the characters and their dialogues very real. The novel is an amazing teen novel that will give you wanderlust and make you want to fall in love with French guys.
- The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory
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The Wedding Date tell us the story of Alexa, a curvy black girl who lives and works in Berkeley, and Drew, a pediatric surgeon from Los Angeles. They meet in New York City, while he’s going to his ex-girlfriend’s wedding and she is planning to visit her sister. They enter in the elevator of the hotel they are booked in, when it suddenly stops: the power is out in the hotel.
As they spend time together, Alexa and Drew start to get to know each other. So Drew decides that she will be his plus one at the wedding.
Something that makes this story unique is that even with both characters living away from each other (she’s from Berkeley and he’s from LA), none of them gives up on their job, making the story of two hard workers that are really devoted to their jobs very real.
- Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles
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This book is definitely the most cliché of them all. The plot is based on that “good girl meets bad boy in school” kind of story but it’s okay, because this book has its perks.
Brittany is blonde, rich and, of course, a cheerleader, while Alex (who is actually named Alejandro) lives in the poor side of Chicago and is member of a Latino gang. They become lab partners in chemistry and the rest is history (I don’t want to spoil the whole story).
Perfect Chemistry is very predictable, but the way that the story is written (with POV’s of the characters changing each chapter, just like a fanfiction), makes us care about Alex and Brittany’s relationship as it develops.
- Love and Other Train Wrecks by Leah Konen
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To finish this list, I had to mention a book that goes well with a cold winter night.
Love and Other Train wrecks tells the story of Noah and Ammy, who meet while in a train to Upstate New York. However, the train suddenly breaks down because of a snowstorm and they are stuck together for a whole night.
The story is quite intriguing since Noah was supposed to meet his first love, who he broke up with when he left for college, that’s why he’s coming back home, while Ammy doesn’t believe in true love at all, since her mom can’t take care of her and her dad might not even want her.
This novel is very thought-provoking. However, it can be a bit unrealistic, because two strangers fall in love in one night (and one of them was supposed to be in love with someone else). Despite that, it is a great book for people who like contemporary stories with a bit of romance.
Who said that fanfiction is immature? Hope you can feel as nostalgic as I did when I read these novels!