Do you dream of dating your favorite celebrity? With these five YA novels about dating celebrities, you can escape into a world of glitz and glamour! Whether you want a modern-day retelling of a beloved classic or a light-hearted adventure set in Hollywood, you’ll find the perfect read among this list of books. From secret online friendships to hidden romances to fake dating, there’s so much delicious drama in these five YA reads about dating celebrities.
Indulge your love of celebrity gossip and dip into these sweet treats.
Book Review: XOXO
About the Book
XOXO by Axie Oh
Genre: Contemporary
Release Date: July 13, 2021
Book Review
This was a super cute romance between an American teen, Jenny, and an angsty K-pop star, Jaewoo, who meet in a karaoke bar in the United States, but she doesn’t know he’s famous. After one wonderful evening, he disappears and never answers any of her texts.
But then her grandmother in Korea gets sick, and Jenny transfers to a prestigious music school in Seoul so she and her mom can be there for her. She’s shocked to discover that Jaewoo is a student there too, and not only that, he’s a member of the fast-rising K-pop group XOXO and forbidden to date. Both Jenny and Jaewoo struggle to balance their responsibilities and dreams for the future with their fast-growing connection.
This was a fascinating peak into K-pop culture and the level of pressure put on band mates. Jenny embraces her new community in Korea with an open heart, and you’re rooting for her to not lose any of them. I loved the scenes with her grandmother, where Jenny learns to better understand both her mother and herself. This boarding school book has great tropes – forbidden romance, roommate drama, and famous boyfriends. The perfect read for when you want something cute and sweet.
Book Review: Chasing After Knight
About the Book
Chasing After Knight by Heather Buchta
Genre: Contemporary
Release Date: May 10, 2022
Book Review
Hollywood, childhood betrayal and high school valedictorians collide in this teen romance.
Alexa became instant best friends with Carson in middle school but didn’t realize her true feelings until the night she betrayed him. Now he’s all over the movies as bad boy Cayden McKnight, who dates models and is a jerk to everyone. Alexa’s new best friend Lindsey decides that Alexa must make amends, and convinces Alexa to track him down, despite Alexa’s long-term but faltering relationship with the reliable John. But Cayden still seems to want nothing to do with her, and Alexa must decide how far she’ll go to make things right.
Told partly through flashbacks, the sweetness of the early interactions between Carson and Alexa provide the perfect contrast to how Cayden treats her now. But Alexa – with the encouragement of Lindsey – keeps pushing, trying to find the sweet boy she once knew under the walled-off celebrity demeanor.
Perfectly paced, with reveals in all the right places, this one was a delight until the very end.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Book Review: Cinder and Ella
About the Book
Cinder & Ella by Kelly Oram
Genre: Contemporary
Book Review
I adored this charming YA telling of Cinderella with a twist! This book brings together a hot celebrity with a heart of gold, a tough-as-nails Latina who’s a fish out of water in LA and two possibly evil stepsisters.
When Ella ends up in a car accident on her eighteenth birthday, she’s in a coma with third degree burns for three months. She wakes up to find out that the Latina single mother who raised her died in the accident. Instead, the flashy LA lawyer father she hasn’t seen since she was eight is sitting by her bed.
He quickly whisks her off to life in a big LA mansion with a former model stepmother and two stepsisters who don’t want her there. Ella’s scars and her use of a cane make her stand out in picture-perfect, beauty-obsessed LA. Her only comfort is her online best friend, Cinder. They bonded years ago over their favorite book series that is being made into a movie now. Even though she doesn’t know his real name, he’s the only one who seems to listen and care about her.
Cinder’s got a secret. He’s not just Ella’s secret best friend, he’s the famous movie star, Brian Oliver, who plays Prince Cinder in the movie based on their favorite book series. Ella’s his escape from his unbelievably complicated life, where his team tries to control where he goes, what he says and even who he dates. But when Ella moves to LA, their worlds colliding becomes a possibility.
Brian’s trapped in his LA lifestyle, but through it all, he tries to make Ella a priority. Their banter will make you laugh out loud, and his urge to protect her from the ugliness of LA will warm the hardest of hearts.
Ella’s both vulnerable and tough. She’s survived the unimaginable, and she’s still here. I loved the parts where she starts to open up and give others a chance. The moments where she lets Brian protect her sparkle with romance.
This is a beautiful story about learning to forgive and give others the benefit of the doubt.
Thank you to the author for the review copy of this book.
About the Book
A Show for Two by Tashie Bhuiyan
Genre: Contemporary
Release Date: May 10, 2022
Book Review
This is a fun take on the enemies to lovers trope.
Mina has a plan. She’s focused on winning a film competition so she can escape her strict Muslim parents who care more about appearances than Mina’s dreams and happiness. Mina’s plans for her school year definitely do not include babysitting an Indie film star going undercover at her high school. In fact, she despises him. Mina and Emmitt have the opposite of a meet-cute when she crashes into him on the street, and he assumes she’s a crazed celebrity stalker.
But it turns out they both need each other. Mina needs Emmitt to guest star in the film club’s film to ensure they win the competition, and Emmitt needs a guide around NYC for a photography contest who won’t rat him out to his mom.
Their banter is to die for. I loved the natural feel of the progression from enemies who despised each other to friends to more than friends. They are an adorable couple!
The city of New York was almost a character in this book, too. As Mina tours Emmitt around the city, the readers get a peak at places that only the locals know about. We also see its beauty and wonder through Emmitt’s photographer eye.
Mina’s torn between love for her friends and sister and the bright new future she’s imagined for herself in California.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Book Review: From Little Tokyo with Love
About the Book
From Little Tokyo with Love by Sarah Kuhn
Genre: Contemporary
Release Date: May 11, 2021
Book Review
Rika doesn’t think she’s princess material. Unlike her cousin, Belle, she’s only half-Japanese, and has had to deal with racism and unacceptance from both the Asian community in Little Tokyo and the outside world, even as she wins the top spot in her dojo for her judo skills. But when she agrees to drive Belle, who’s won Queen of the Nikkei Week, a Japanese cultural festival, in the parade, Rika isn’t expecting to meet a teen celebrity from Dance Off skulking around her aunt’s car. She definitely doesn’t expect to be attracted to him or to meet up with him again. But rising Hollywood star Henry Chen may hold answers to where Rika truly belongs.
This is a modern fairytale, and each chapter starts with a once-upon-a-time fairytale storytelling device. But it flips the trope around, with both Henry and Rika having to rescue each other at different points in the story.
These characters are fierce and loving, investing their whole hearts into the world. Rika and Henry fall for each other rapidly, and their chemistry is pretty electric for a young adult book. A large part of Rika’s storyline involves her temper, which her aunt calls her kaiju (monster)-temper. She famously bit a boy when she was eight, nearly getting kicked out of her dojo. Rika uses the illustration of the nure-onna, one of her favorite monster from Japanese folklore, because she’s cunning in how she exacts her revenge. Rika struggles to learn to think of her passion and differences from her community as a good thing.
This is a powerful story of what it means to belong and realizing that we all deserve a happy ending.
Thank you to Penguin Teen and NetGalley for the advance review copy of this book.
Looking for more YA reads? Check out my post on the 15 Best YA Books of 2021.
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