Exploring large cities can be a lot of fun, but my feet and knee can’t always take all of the running around. Visiting via novels makes it a lot easier. It’s clearly not the same experience, but I do enjoy a little tourism via literature. The last few young adult (or new adult) titles I’ve read take place in London, San Francisco, and New York with nods to quite a few of the local landmarks. I enjoyed each of these in different ways and appreciated seeing the cities through other eyes.
London on My Mind is a rom-com with a bit of family drama and a brush with royalty. Kisses, Codes, and Conspiracies has all that you might expect with the title including a bit of romance along with a few thrilling moments. Roaming leans more coming-of-age as college freshman wander through the streets of New York.
With all three, it was nice to experience the settings along with the characters. When I saw the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco while on a walk last night it definitely made me think of a specific scene in Kisses, Codes, and Conspiracies. I didn’t make it all the way there though since as often happens, my feet were done before the rest of me wanted to give up for the day. I’m thankful for these glimpses of cities from the comfort of my reading chair.
London on My Mind by Clara Alves translated by Nina Perrotta
PUSH
Sixteen-year-old Dayana has always dreamed of visiting London — to walk along the Thames, take pictures outside Buckingham Palace, and maybe even get a glimpse of Arthur, Prince of Wales, whose marriage has been all over tabloids. But the trip of her dreams turns into a royal nightmare when her mother passes away. Now, Day must leave Rio de Janeiro to live with her estranged father and his new family in London.
As it turns out, the U.K. isn’t exactly Day’s cup of tea. She struggles to forgive her father for walking out on her and her mom all those years ago; fights with her stepsister constantly; detests her stepmother; and she can’t even see One Direction in concert because they’ve been broken up for ages. All she wants to do is trade the rainy skies of London for the sun and beaches of Rio.
That’s when she runs into the girl of her dreams — literally: The coincidentally named Diana, a witty, funny, redhead who was in the middle of . . . escaping Buckingham Palace? Something isn’t right here, but it makes Diana all the more alluring. As time passes, and the two girls grow closer, Day can’t help but wonder if there is more than a little truth to the rumors surrounding Prince Arthur — and if Diana might be involved somehow. Is it all in her head, or could Day be caught up in a real-life royal scandal?
Kisses, Codes, and Conspiracies by Abigail Hing Wen
Feiwel & Friends – Available August 13, 2024 (Thanks to the ALA Convention for the ARC)
Tan Lee finds himself embroiled in an unusual love triangle, all while trying to defuse a heist, unravel a conspiracy, and navigate the most complicated babysitting assignment ever in this YA novel by national bestselling author Abigail Hing Wen.
After a magical kiss at Prom, best friends Tan Lee and Winter Woo agree to cool it off, a plan that goes awry when their parents jointly head off to Hawaii and leave Tan and Winter to babysit Tan’s sister Sana together. If that isn’t complicated enough, Tan’s ex-girlfriend from Shanghai arrives on his doorstep with money stolen from her billionaire father and thugs on her heels.
Tan soon finds himself on the run, trying to out-maneuver international hackers and protect his friends, family and sister – and his own heart.
Roaming by Jillian Tamaki & Mariko Tamaki
Drawn & Quarterly
Spring break, 2009. High school best friends Zoe and Dani are now freshman college students, meeting in a place they’ve wanted to visit forever: New York City. Tagging along is Dani’s classmate Fiona, a mercurial art student with an opinion on everything. Together, the three cram in as much of the city as possible, gleefully falling into tourist traps, pondering so-called great works of art, sidestepping creeps, and eating lots and lots of pizza (folded in half, of course). Roaming is a ground-breaking graphic novel from the authors behind New York Times bestseller and Caldecott Honor Book This One Summer.