[katie-van-ark-2 Posts: 4 Status: Offline I love kids' books! WWW]

Looking specifically for titles with happily ever after endings, any suggestions? (I have read all of Simone Elkeles work...)

[C.K. Posts: 908 Status: Offline WWW]

Mine is Love and Other Perishable Items, which doesn't really fit the description of what you're looking for but man, it's so charming and real. It's so incredibly difficult to be both those things at the same time, but this book accomplishes it. Closer to what you're looking for, I might suggest most YA titles by Sarra Manning and Jennifer Echols.

[Mike Jung]

Rainbow Rowell's FANGIRL! And her ELEANOR & PARK ends on a complicated and ambiguously happy note, but it's so fantastically good that I'll say it anyway. Rainbow Rowell's ELEANOR & PARK! I'm also a big fan of SETH BAUMGARTNER'S LOVE MANIFESTO by Eric Luper.

[Lwrites Posts: 164 Status: Offline]

i really enjoyed ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS by Stephanie Perkins. And I second Rainbow Rowell's books!
And they're not as well-known anymore, but i really like Megan McCafferty's "Jessica Darling" series (starts with SLOPPY FIRSTS). Ditto Louise Rennison's "Georgia Nicholson" series for something really silly and light.

[dinalapomy101 Posts: 1,822 Status: Offline Happy writing to all! WWW]

Agree with Stephanie Perkin's two books and Rainbow Rowell's FANGIRL.

Also like THE ESSPRESSOLOGIST by Kristina Springer, ROOMIES by Sara Zarr & Tara Altebrando, RED by Alison Cherry....

[olmue Posts: 3,424 Status: Offline WWW]

I read mostly books that have a romantic element, but not usually straight romances. However, maybe The Statistical Probability of First Love by Jennifer E. Smith would fit?

[Marissa Doyle Posts: 3,006 Status: Offline Charles Bewitched: out now! WWW]

Most YA romances don't have "happily ever after" endings--more like a "happily for now" since most seventeen-year-olds aren't making a lifetime commitment to anyone yet.  Are you looking for actual happily ever afters, or just YA romance that ends with the hero and heroine in a relationship at the end of the story, whether or not it's going to end in marriage some day? 

[jenklein Posts: 76 Status: Offline WWW]

Most (all?) of Susane Colasanti's books.

[LMES Posts: 44 Status: Offline]

Veronica Rossi's Under the Never Sky books--no wedding bells, but as Marissa says, the main characters are teenagers.

[katie-van-ark-2 Posts: 4 Status: Offline I love kids' books! WWW]

Thanks for all the suggestions so far. I have already read (and LOVED) both of Stephanie Perkins' novels, especially Anna and the French Kiss (used to live in Paris). Also enjoyed Statistical Probability... and Eleanor & Park. Happily for now endings are fine as well. (On a side note, C.K., I really enjoyed your book I KNOW IT'S OVER. Very nice seeing the guy's perspective. My WIP involves three girls who each make different choices about an unplanned pregnancy and I think I've read just about every traditionally published teen abortion/pregnancy/adoption novel out there - thus looking for lighter reads at the moment!)

[HDWestlund Posts: 993 Status: Offline writer and bookseller]

Some additions to some of my favorites that have already been mentioned. (i.e., Rainbow Rowell and Stephanie Perkins):

Jenny Han's "The Summer I Turned Pretty" trilogy
"North of Beautiful" by Justina Chen

[hairaplenty Posts: 1,456 Status: Offline Don't ever quit!]

Did Sarah Dessen get mentioned? Along for the Ride was one of my favorites. I second Jenny Han books.

[C.K. Posts: 908 Status: Offline WWW]

Katie, thank you! That's very nice to hear and I understand about needing lighter reading material when you're working on emotionally challenging material. It's so draining! Love and Other Perishable Items is actually a fairly light read (no hardcore problems or anything); it just doesn't have the kind of ending you might be looking for. But, oh, the charm. I just love Amelia and Chris to bits. Their interactions are so wonderfully authentic. I hardly ever reread anything but I just finished reading it for the second time and I still feel giddy at the thought of it and am not really ready to leave the characters behind. 

[katie-van-ark-2 Posts: 4 Status: Offline I love kids' books! WWW]

I put it on my reading list, it looks like a good one for my VCFA study.

[C.K. Posts: 908 Status: Offline WWW]

I'm so glad 

[Amaris Glass Posts: 76 Status: Offline]

Kasie West's books are my new favorites for a fun, satisfying love story (whether contemporary or her dual-timeline duology). Funnily enough, JUST LIKE FATE, another dual timeline story by Suzanne Young and Cat Patrick, also ends up being a great love story.

[kathymacmillan Posts: 3 Status: Offline YA Novelist WWW]

This is an older title, but The Unlikely Romance of Kate Bjorkman by Louise Plummer is one of my all-time favorites.

[austen Posts: 187 Status: Offline Patience is everything.--Rilke]

I always enjoy a bit of history with my romance, some of my favorites are by Eva Ibbotson:
COUNTESS BELOW STAIRS and THE RELUCTANT HEIRESS.
I also enjoyed our own Marissa Doyle's COURTSHIPS AND CURSES a lot.