May 2025 Additions

Spring is here and summer is right around the corner, which means it's prime time for some breezy summer reads. While the world is filled with dire news on a daily basis, there is some refuge to be found in the stories of people finding each other among the din and stress and making something beautiful. With that in mind, the library is adding a pair of YA romances, starting with The Gravity of Us by Phil Stamper. Set against the backdrop of a NASA mission to Mars, the book follows Cal Lewis, a social media journalist, as he meets Leon, who's in a similar situation, and the two hit it off. But will the secrets surrounding their families and their missions tear them apart, or push them to finding out the truth of what's going on...together? From the publisher:

As a successful social media journalist with half a million followers, seventeen-year-old Cal is used to sharing his life online. But when his pilot father is selected for a highly publicized NASA mission to Mars, Cal and his family relocate from Brooklyn to Houston and are thrust into a media circus.

Amidst the chaos, Cal meets sensitive and mysterious Leon, another “Astrokid,” and finds himself falling head over heels–fast. As the frenzy around the mission grows, so does their connection. But when secrets about the program are uncovered, Cal must find a way to reveal the truth without hurting the people who have become most important to him.

Next up is Meet Cute Diary by Emery Lee, in which Noah Ramirez is a popular blogger about all things romance, following the stories of trans meet cutes and storybook relationships. Except the stories are more fiction than truth, and when an online troll reveals Noah's secret, his life goes a little off the rails. But it's there he meets Drew, who reaffirms his belief in romance and happy endings. But is it also too good to be true? From the author:

Noah Ramirez thinks he’s an expert on romance. He has to be for his popular blog, the Meet Cute Diary, a collection of trans happily ever afters. There’s just one problem—all the stories are fake. What started as the fantasies of a trans boy afraid to step out of the closet has grown into a beacon of hope for trans readers across the globe.

When a troll exposes the blog as fiction, Noah’s world unravels. The only way to save the Diary is to convince everyone that the stories are true, but he doesn’t have any proof. Then Drew walks into Noah’s life, and the pieces fall into place: Drew is willing to fake-date Noah to save the Diary. But when Noah’s feelings grow beyond their staged romance, he realizes that dating in real life isn’t quite the same as finding love on the page.