Books like Tell Me Again How a Crush Should Feel

Tell Me Again How a Crush Should Feel by Sara Farizan reads as heartfelt, humorous. These 12 books share its genome — matched by how they actually read, not just their shelf label.

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda

Becky Albertalli · 2015

A warm, funny, epistolary-tinged coming-out story with an irresistibly earnest teen narrator whose email flirtation with the mysterious Blue is the beating heart of the book.

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Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

Benjamin Alire Saenz · 2012

A quiet, aching first-person coming-of-age told in short chapters and spare, lyrical sentences — the friendship deepens by inches until the emotional payoff lands with unexpected force.

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The miseducation of Cameron Post

Emily M. Danforth · 2012

A grounded, reflective coming-of-age set against a conservative Montana town and a conversion-therapy program — the drama comes from the slow erosion of self under institutional pressure rather than plot fireworks.

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grl2grl

Julie Anne Peters · 2007

An emotionally intimate coming-of-age narrative following two teenage girls discovering love and identity through online connection while navigating small-town social pressures.

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The Henna Wars

Adiba Jaigirdar · 2020

A YA romance that braids a first sapphic crush with family rejection and a school rivalry over cultural appropriation — emotionally charged but accessible, with the sting of coming

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Absolutely, positively not

David LaRochelle · 2005

Reads humorous in the same way — and goes just as deep on identity and friendship.

If You Could Be Mine

Sara Farizan · 2013

A tense, high-stakes YA romance where two Iranian teens' love runs headlong into an arranged marriage and a legal system that criminalizes their identity — the pressure comes from the setting as much as the plot.

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Aristotle and Dante discover the secrets of the universe

Benjamin Alire Sáenz · 2012

A tender, interior coming-of-age told in short spare chapters and quiet white space, where a lonely boy's friendship slowly cracks him open to family secrets and first love.

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So hard to say

Alex Sanchez · 2004

A quiet, emotionally raw look at a boy's dawning realization of his sexuality and his fear of jeopardizing his closest friendship, told with gentle, conversational sincerity.

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Loveless

Alice Oseman · 2020

A warm, funny, and quietly emotional university-set coming-of-age about discovering asexuality and aromanticism — the romance-plot machinery is repurposed into a friendship-and-sel

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Girl mans up

M-E Girard · 2016

A grounded, introspective YA read following a masculine-presenting girl pushing back against family and peer pressure to conform, with a slow-building emotional weight rather than plot fireworks.

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If I Was Your Girl

Meredith Russo · 2016

An intimate, emotionally charged YA romance about a trans girl weighing safety against the vulnerability of being fully known.

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