Our thanks to those who were able to join us for our SLAV online Book Club on Tuesday April 29th, 2025, to discuss the topic: Enemies to Lovers

Many thanks to Mia from the Sun Bookshop for attending and providing recommendations and information on some new and upcoming release books.

We asked our members to share their favourite books that are set in Melbourne.

As usual, we finished out session with attendees sharing what they have been reading lately.

Our next Online Book Club meeting is on Wednesday May 28^th and the topic of conversation is ‘South Asian Fiction’.

Disclaimer: The lists generated as a result of Book Club discussions are not, by any means, an exhaustive list of all titles or authors for each genre/category discussed. Nor will all titles be suitable for all libraries. We advise staff discretion when referencing these lists, to properly confirm individual title suitability for individual libraries, school and student’s needs. These are suggested titles only, shared by our members and inclusion on, or exclusion from, a list does not suggest SLAV endorsement or rejection of a title.

Middle Grade:

The Nevermoor Series by Jessica Townsend

Well, That Was Awkward by Rachel Vail (love triangle)

 The Flipside by Shawn Johnson

Keep It Together, Keiko Carter by Debbie Michiko Florence

Just Be Cool, Jenna Sakai by Debbie Michiko Florence

Choose Your Own Happily Ever After series

Show Us Who You Are by Elle Nicoll

Young Adult:

Stuck up & Stupid by Angourie and Kate Rice (a modern re-working of Pride & Prejudice)

Better than the movies by Lynne Painter

Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery

The Powerless Trilogy by Lauren Roberts

The Cruel Prince series by Holly Black

Six of Crows series by Leigh Bardugo

The Maven and Reeve series by A. L. Tait

I Hope This Doesn’t Find You by Ann Liang

A Way Home by Emily Bewin (more a friendship than a romance)

Lady’s Knight by Amie Kaufmann & Meagan Spooner

The Geography of Me and You by Jennifer E. Smith

P.S. I Like You by Kasie West

This Dream Will Devour Us by Emma Clancey

Love & Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch

Scythe by Neal Shusterman

These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong

Of Curses and Kisses by Sandhya Menon

When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

This Mortal Coil by Emily Suvada

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

Stars and Smoke by Marie Lu

The Dagger and the Flame by Catherine Doyle

Fallen Academy by Leia Stone

Wandering Wild by Lynette Noni

The Red Queen series by Victoria Aveyard

Renegades by Marissa Meyer

Serpent & Dove by Shelby Mahurin

These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong

Nightweaver by R.M. Gray

Cruel is the Light by Sophie Clark

The Crimson Moth by Kristen Ciccarelli

Defy the Stars by Claudia Gray

The Kinder Poison by Natalie Mae

Legend by Marie Lu

A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Senior Fiction:

One Day in December by Josie Silver

One Night on the Island by Josie Silver

Assistant to the Villain series by Hannah Nicole Maehrer

Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

Love On The Air by Ash London

Other Books Discussed

Only Branch of the Family Tree Sherryl Clark

Stuff I'm Not Sorry For by Maxine Beneba Clarke

Music Camp by Penny Tangey

How to Survive 1985 by Tegan Bennett Daylight

Letters to the Lost by Brigid Kemmerer

The Surface Trials by H.M. Waugh

The Pull of the Moon by Pip Smith

Windfall by Jennifer E. Smith

Classic romance authors

Jane Austen – Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Persuasion, Northanger Abbey

Charlotte Bronte – Jane Eyre

Emily Bronte – Wuthering Heights

Shakespeare – Romeo and Juliet

Elizabeth Gaskell – North and South

E.M. Forster – A room with a view

Daphne du Maurier - Rebecca

YA romance fiction

Unnecessary Drama – Nina Kenwood

Between Us – Clare Atkins – (refugees)

Cloudwish, Wildlife, Six Impossible things – Fiona Wood

Looking for Alibrandi – Melina Marchetta

Authors of romance

The Fault in our stars by John Green

Jenny Han – challenged / banned

Collen Hoover – challenged / banned from many school collections

Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer

CBCA Shortlisted books

Some of the shortlisted books from 2024 come to mind as being in this category. Particularly Grace Notes by Karen Comer and Inkflower by Suzy Zail. There are challenging relationships and family dynamics, misunderstandings, despair, and finding peace / love/ and resolution. Maybe you can think of other award winning titles – long list or short list.

“I’m not really here” by Gary Lonesborourgh.