Sunshine is a voracious reader with an eclectic taste in book themes. Find her a book that she loves, and she’ll finish it in an evening. I sometimes wonder if she is reading under the sheets with a torchlight like I did as a kid,
There’s one thing I love almost as much as books, and that’s sharing and talking about them. I am encouraging Sunshine to do the same.
Over the last month, alongside her texts for school, Sunshine has read four novels which we were keen to share with you.
Books for teenagers August 2025
Table of Contents
- The Unexpected Consequence of Bleeding on a Tuesday | Kelsey B Toney|
- The Way I Used to Be | Amber Smith
- Turtles All The Way Down | John Green
- The Wildest Dreams Bookshop | Gracie Page
The Unexpected Consequence of Bleeding on a Tuesday | Kelsey B Toney
High school senior Delia Bridges has the most amazing mom and sister, a killer GPA--and periods that are so painful they make her scream, pass out, and throw up. Though she doesn't know it yet, Delia has endometriosis, an affliction plaguing millions of people that is notoriously difficult to diagnose.
Pain makes everything harder, but Delia is just one semester away from graduating from Stockwood Prep and pursuing her dream of become the kind of doctor she's never one who takes her symptoms seriously. But when she breaks a rule for the first time ever and is caught using marijuana at school to manage her pain, Delia is expelled.
Her expulsion jeopardises her college acceptance, her planned mentorship, and everything she had carefully planned for years. Without her academic success and no closer to a diagnosis, is Delia anything more than her period?
Periods suck. Worse still, the management of things like endometriosis and PCOS are still quite misunderstood. Both Sunshine and I recently had a doctor’s appointment where we were told that period pain was normal and we just had to suck it up. Having visited the Museum of Human Disease at UNSW, we both knew this was NOT true. Shortly after, this book found its way onto Sunshine’s bookshelf. A must read!
Buy it here.
The Way I Used to Be | Amber Smith
All Eden wants is to rewind the clock. To live that day again. She would do everything differently. Not laugh at his jokes or ignore the way he was looking at her that night. And she would definitely lock her bedroom door.
But Eden can’t turn back time. So she buries the truth, along with the girl she used to be. She pretends she doesn’t need friends, doesn’t need love, doesn’t need justice. But as her world unravels, one thing becomes the only person who can save Eden… is Eden.
Trigger warning needed.
Sunshine selected this book herself, then read it in one evening. It explores some deep themes, such as rape and the ensuing pain, shame, and fear, so you will want to be around to discuss some of these themes as needed. It is not an easy read, and there isn’t a happily ever after.
Buy it here.
Turtles All The Way Down | John Green
Aza Holmes never intended to pursue the disappearance of fugitive billionaire Russell Pickett, but there’s a hundred-thousand-dollar reward at stake and her Best and Most Fearless Friend, Daisy, is eager to investigate. So together, they navigate the short distance and broad divides that separate them from Pickett’s son Davis.
Aza is trying. She is trying to be a good daughter, a good friend, a good student, and maybe even a good detective, while also living within the ever-tightening spiral of her own thoughts.
Having recently read John Green’s Everything Is Tuberculosis, I was excited to see another one of his books on Sunshine’s shelf this month. Green’s characters are always so relatable, and Sunshine enjoyed exploring Ava’s struggles with anxiety. I’m keen to see if she’ll now splurge on all of his other YA collection!
Buy it here.
The Wildest Dreams Bookshelf | Gracie Page
Seventeen-year-old Anna is not having a good summer. She’s pretty sure she’s flunked her exams, and to make matters worse, her boyfriend, Max, has unceremoniously dumped her. All her friends have incredible summers lined up, while her diary is looking worryingly empty. So when her aunt invites her to stay at her bookshop by the sea for the summer, she reluctantly takes her up on her offer. If nothing else, at least she can hide out there and ignore the fact that her real life is quickly going down the drain.
What Anna didn’t factor into her summer plans was the oh so irritating but distractingly good looking local surfer, Jacob, who keeps crossing her path and whom she finds herself inexplicably drawn to… When disaster strikes the bookshop, Anna has to work with Jacob if she’s to save the bookshop’s end of summer party. Along the way, she might just discover that real life can be a whole lot sweeter than fiction…
Each Wednesday night, Sunshine and I curl up on our couch and watch the latest episode of The Summer I Turned Pretty. We’re enjoying this little ritual and we have spent numerous moments debating whether Belly should choose Conrad or Jeremiah.
When we were gifted this novel by HarperCollinsPublishers, I was delighted to see it compared to THITP and promptly asked Sushine to read it quickly so I could give it a crack afterwards.
Sunshine took a little longer to read The Wildest Dreams Bookshop, and let me know that she thought it was a ‘sweet romance’ and super easy to read. I’m grabbing it next!
Buy it here.
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