Recently, Renee Watson has been on a book tour for her new release, Love is a Revolution. She stated in this PEN America interview, “I wanted a dark-skinned Black girl with a big body to be the desired one, not the side character.” Valentine’s Day is less than a week away, so here are a few young adult novels about teens looking for or finding love, where Black characters of various body sizes, orientations, etc. are represented. Although some of the diverse stories may not be categorized as “romance” novels, the common connection in the stories is the characters’ desire to find a special love relationship. Happy Valentine’s Day! Our stories matter.
1 Love Is a Revolution
Renée Watson | Bloomsbury USA | February 2, 2021 | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
2 Yesterday Is History
Kosoko Jackson | Sourcebooks Fire | February 2, 2021 | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
3 The Meet-Cute Project
Rhiannon Richardson | Simon & Schuster BYR | January 12, 2021 | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
4 Happily Ever Afters
Elise Bryant | Balzer + Bray | January 5, 2021 | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
5 Roman and Jewel
Dana L. Davis | Inkyard Press | January 5, 2021 | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
6 Charming as a Verb
Ben Philippe | Balzer + Bray | September 8, 2020 | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
7 Now That I’ve Found You
Kristina Forest | Roaring Brook Press | YA | August 25 | Amazon | Bookshop | Indiebound
8 Cinderella Is Dead
Kalynn Bayron | Bloomsbury | July 7, 2020 | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
9 The Voting Booth
Brandy Colbert | Disney-Hyperion | July 7, 2020 | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
10 All the Things We Never Knew
Liara Tamani | Greenwillow Books | June 9, 2020 | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
11 You Should See Me in a Crown
Leah Johnson | Scholastic Press | June 2, 2020 | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
12 A Love Hate Thing
Whitney D. Grandison | Inkyard Press | January 7, 2020 | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
13 Jackpot
Nic Stone | Crown BYR | October 15, 2019 | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
14 The Stars and the Blackness Between Them
Junauda Petrus | Dutton BYR | September 17, 2019 | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
15 Truly Madly Royally
Debbie Rigaud | Point | July 30, 2019 | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
16 Opposite of Always
Justin A. Reynolds | Katherine Tegen Books | March 5, 2019 | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
17 The Weight of the Stars
K. Ancrum | Imprint | March 19, 2019 | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
18 Pride: A Pride & Prejudice Remix
Ibi Zoboi | Balzer + Bray | September 18, 2018 | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
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