Hello everyone! I hope you are all doing well! It’s officially summer here in the Northern Hemisphere, which also means we’re basically halfway through 2021. Today I’m sharing contemporary YA books that are coming out this summer that I want to read. At the beginning of the year, I shared a post with general 2021 releases I was excited for, but that only went through releases of May. This list will pick up in June and go through releases in August.
Each book title links to the book’s Goodreads page. Note: Some of the June releases that I discuss in this post have already been published!
- Sunny Song Will Never Be Famous by Suzanne Park – This looks like a hilarious book that follows a teen influencer who goes to a digital detox camp. I hope this will have interesting discussions about social media usage.
- Instructions for Dancing by Nicola Yoon – This looks like such a beautiful story of a girl who regains her belief in love through ballroom dancing. My mom and I both really want to read it, and I’m hoping to get a copy soon!
- Love & Other Natural Disasters by Misa Sugiura – I love the cover for this book and I’m really interested to see how it uses the fake dating trope. The premise of this book looks really interesting and full of drama, and I’m excited to read it!
- We Can’t Keep Meeting Like This by Rachel Lynn Solomon – After absolutely loving Today Tonight Tomorrow last year, I am really looking forward to reading this book! I actually already have a copy of this, but I probably won’t be able to read it for a while because I’m out of town.
- Blackout by Dhonielle Clayton, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk, and Nicola Yoon – As soon as I heard that this book existed, I was so excited! I’ve read books by almost all of these authors and I can’t wait to read their collaboration!
- XOXO by Axie Oh – While I don’t actually listen to K-pop, I’ve read a few interesting books that talk about the music genre and I am interested in what this book has to say about the industry. I am also excited to see that the protagonist plays cello since I love reading about teen musicians!
- Rise to the Sun by Leah Johnson – After really enjoying You Should See Me in a Crown last year, I am really excited to read Leah Johnson’s next book. This one is set at a music festival and looks so cute!
- Like a Love Song by Gabriela Martins – This is another fake dating book with a main character who is a Brazilian pop star. This looks so cute and I love how popular the fake dating trope is this year!
Have you read any of these books? Are you excited for any of their releases? Are there any other YA contemporaries that you are excited to read that are coming out this summer? Let me know in the comments!
Ruby Reads and Reviews 
I love reading contemporaries so this was super helpful. Great post!
Thank you so much!
I hope you enjoy these! I am also really looking forward to reading XOXO and Instructions for Dancing
Thank you! I hope you get to read both of those books this summer and enjoy them as well!
I’m about to start Rise to the sun and ahh, my expectations are pretty high, lol! Blackout and We can’t keep meeting like this sound AMAZING and I have to read them asap, and come on, who doesn’t want to read Like a love song! Great list, I’m so hyped about these!! ❤
I hope you like Rise to the Sun! I just finished Blackout and I liked it. I’m glad you want to read some of these books too! Thank you so much!