Books like 'Cruel Summer'
Readers who enjoyed Cruel Summer by Michael C. Bailey also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary sc-fi action / adventure super-powered lgbtq family coming-of-age
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Fall of Hades by Richard Paul Evans
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 33 ratingsMichael and his friends try to recruit Hatch’s Electric Youth to their side as the thrilling action continues in this electrifying sixth installment of the New York Times bestselling series!Michael and the Electroclan are about to embark on their deadliest mission yet. Some of them may not make it back... -
If I Built a House by Chris Van Dusen
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThe much-anticipated follow-up to the E. B. White Award-winning picture book If I Built a CarIn If I Built a Car, imaginative Jack dreamed up a whimsical fantasy ride that could do just about anything. Now he's back and ready to build the house of his dreams, complete with a racetrack, flying room, and gigantic slide... -
If I Built a Car by Chris Van Dusen
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIf I built a car, it'd be totally new!Here are a few of the things that I'd do. . . .Young Jack is giving an eye-opening tour of the car he'd like to build. There's a snack bar, a pool, and even a robot named Robert to act as chauffeur... -
Storm of Lightning by Richard Paul Evans
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsMichael, Taylor, Ostin, and the rest of the Electroclan go on their most dangerous mission yet as the thrilling action continues in this electrifying fifth installment of the New York Times bestselling series!The Electroclan is on the run. The resistance movement has been compromised. The safe house has been destroyed... -
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Rise of the Elgen by Richard Paul Evans
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 41 ratingsMichael must save his mother—and protect his powers—in the electric sequel to the #1 New York Times bestselling Michael Vey, from Richard Paul Evans.Michael was born with special electrical powers—and he’s not the only one. His friend Taylor has them too, and so do other kids around the world... -
Battle of the Ampere by Richard Paul Evans
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 38 ratingsThe hair-raising action continues for Michael Vey in this charged third installment of the #1 New York Times bestselling series.Michael, Taylor, Ostin and the rest of the Electroclan have destroyed the largest of the Elgen Starxource plants, but now they’re scattered across the Amazon jungle...Categorized as:
coming-of-age family super-powered action-adventure audiobook book children contemporary -
Fever by Deon Meyer
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsNico Storm and his father Willem drive a truck filled with essential supplies through a desolate land. They are among the few in South Africa--and the world, as far as they know--to have survived a devastating virus which has swept through the country... -
Imago by Octavia E. Butler
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThe stunning conclusion to a postapocalyptic trilogy about an alien species merging with humans—from “one of science fiction’s finest writers” (TheNew York Times). Human and Oankali have been mating since the aliens first came to Earth to rescue the few survivors of an annihilating nuclear war... -
Masterminds by Gordon Korman
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 32 ratingsThe first book in the action-packed trilogy from New York Times bestselling author Gordon Korman is perfect for fans of Stranger Things and James Patterson. Eli Frieden has never left Serenity, New Mexico...why would he ever want to? Then one day, he bikes to the edge of the city limits and something so crazy and unexpected happens, it changes everything...Categorized as:
coming-of-age family super-powered 21st-century action-adventure audiobook book children -
Slay by Brittney Morris
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 25 ratings'We are different ages, genders and traditions ... but tonight we all SLAY' Black Panther meets Ready Player One. A fierce teen game developer battles a real-life troll intent on ruining the Black Panther-inspired video game she created and the safe community it represents for black gamers... -
Cryptid Hunters by Roland Smith
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 19 ratingsAfter their parents are lost in an accident, thirteen-year old twins Grace and Marty are whisked away to live with their Uncle Wolfe-an uncle that they didn't even know they had! The intimidating Uncle Wolfe is an anthropologist who has dedicated his life to finding cryptids, mysterious creatures believed to be long extinct...Categorized as:
coming-of-age family action-adventure animals book children children-books contemporary -
In the Shadows by Hailey Turner
Rated: 4.37 of 5 stars · 21 ratingsTake a chance. Staff Sergeant Alexei Dvorkin doesn’t trust easily, and he most certainly doesn’t trust spies. He’ll work with them if ordered to, but that doesn’t mean he has to like it. Except Agent Sean Delaney is proving to be the exception to the rule. There’s something about Sean that gets under Alexei’s skin and won’t let go... -
The Grace Year by Kim Liggett
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsNo one speaks of the grace year. It’s forbidden.In Garner County, girls are told they have the power to lure grown men from their beds, to drive women mad with jealousy. They believe their very skin emits a powerful aphrodisiac, the potent essence of youth, of a girl on the edge of womanhood... -
Adulthood Rites by Octavia E. Butler
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsIn this sequel to Dawn, Lilith Iyapo has given birth to what looks like a normal human boy named Akin. But Akin actually has five parents: a male and female human, a male and female Oankali, and a sexless Ooloi... -
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The Transfer by Veronica Roth
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 34 ratingsComplete your Divergent library with the Four stories!Fans of the Divergent series by #1 New York Times bestselling author Veronica Roth will be captivated by "Four: The Transfer," the first of four stories, each between fifty and seventy-five pages long, set in the world of Divergent and told from Tobias's perspective... -
Alone by Megan E. Freeman
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsWhen twelve-year-old Maddie hatches a scheme for a secret sleepover with her two best friends, she ends up waking up to a nightmare. She’s alone—left behind in a town that has been mysteriously evacuated and abandoned.With no one to rely on, no power, and no working phone lines or internet access, Maddie slowly learns to survive on her own... -
Generation One by Pittacus Lore
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsThe first book in a pulse-pounding new series that's set in the world of the #1 New York Times bestselling I Am Number Four series. The war may be over—but for the next generation, the battle has just begun!It has been over a year since the invasion of Earth was thwarted in Pittacus Lore's United as One... -
In the Ruins by Hailey Turner
Rated: 4.27 of 5 stars · 23 ratingsTruth and lies. Captain Jamie Callahan knows the Metahuman Defense Force frowns on fraternization. For once in his life, he’s breaking all the rules. Having Staff Sergeant Kyle Brannigan on his team and in his bed is worth the risk of being found out. When a mission comes down requiring Alpha Team to go undercover in order to infiltrate a criminal alliance, Jamie knows it won’t be easy... -
Double Cross by Malorie Blackman, Amélie Sarn
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsTobey wants a better life - for him and his girlfriend Callie Rose. He wants nothing to do with the gangs that rule the world he lives in. But when he's offered the chance to earn some money just for making a few 'deliveries', just this once, would it hurt to say 'yes'?The captivating conclusion/companion Novel of the Noughts and Crosses series...Categorized as:
coming-of-age family action-adventure alternate-history audiobook book children contemporary -
Among the Brave by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsA Reluctant HeroTrey may have saved Luke's life, but he still thinks of himself as a coward who can barely stand to be outdoors. Now Trey finds out Luke has been taken prisoner at Population Police headquarters. Trey is terrified, but he knows that if he doesn't rescue his friend, no one will.At police headquarters, Trey impersonates an officer to try getting to Luke...Categorized as:
coming-of-age family action-adventure book children children-books contemporary dark -
Through the Ever Night by Veronica Rossi
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 57 ratingsIt's been months since Aria learned of her mother's death.Months since Perry became Blood Lord of the Tides, and months since Aria last saw him.Now Aria and Perry are about to be reunited. It's a moment they've been longing for with countless expectations. And it's a moment that lives up to all of them. At least, at first. Then it slips away...Categorized as:
coming-of-age family super-powered action-adventure alpha-mc apocalyptic audiobook book -
Every Soul a Star by Wendy Mass
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsAnd as streams of light fan out behind the darkened sun like the wings of a butterfly, I realize that I never saw real beauty until now.At Moon Shadow, an isolated campground, thousands have gathered to catch a glimpse of a rare and extraordinary total eclipse of the sun...Categorized as:
coming-of-age family action-adventure audiobook book children contemporary female-author -
Silhouette by Robin Hale
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsDr. Molly Fawn’s life is surprisingly normal, considering that she spends her days running support for a man who can fly and lift city buses with one hand. But when Molly interrupts the Silhouette — the city’s most notorious thief — in a middle of a job, everything gets a bit more exciting... -
Elephant Secret by Eric Walters
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsWe Bought a Zoo meets Jurassic Park in a gripping story set in an elephant sanctuary, featuring the perennial appeal of human-animal friendships.Samantha (Sam) lives at the elephant sanctuary her dad runs and views the elephants there as much a part of her family as her single dad is...Categorized as:
coming-of-age family action-adventure animals book children children-books contemporary -
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The Unusual Second Life of Thomas Weaver by Shawn Inmon
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsAll Thomas Weaver wanted was death. What he got was time travel. Thomas Weaver, haunted by a teenage tragedy, lived a wasted life. He closed his eyes for what he believed was the last time in 2016, but opened them again in his teenage bedroom and body in 1976. Now a middle-aged man in his teenage body, he sets out to fix everything he did wrong in his first life... -
Crownchasers by Rebecca Coffindaffer
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA deadly competition for the throne will determine more than just the fate of the empire in this duology opener.Alyssa Farshot has spent her whole life trying to outrun her family legacy. Her mother sacrificed everything to bring peace to the quadrant, and her uncle has successfully ruled as emperor for decades... -
In the Solace by Hailey Turner
Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsBuilt to carry you. Jamie Callahan is looking forward to spending the rest of his life with Kyle Brannigan. They’ve overcome impossible odds, and the only thing left to do is walk down the aisle together. Despite the happiness they’ve earned, their enemies haven’t all disappeared. Make it to the other side... -
Bandit by Brooke Matthews
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsBennett Fields has a secret. But then again, who doesn't? When tasked with retrieving the talisman belonging to one of Mercy Height's most dangerous supervillains, Bennett finds himself dealing with more than he bargained for... -
Boy 2.0 by Tracey Baptiste
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWin “Coal” Keegan has just landed in his latest foster home, with a big, noisy, slightly nosy family named the McKays. They seem eager to welcome Coal, but he’s wary of trusting them. So, he doesn’t tell them that he went for a walk with chalk in his pocket to cover a nearby street with his art. He doesn’t tell them that a neighbor found Coal drawing, pulled a gun on him, and fired it...Categorized as:
super-powered family middle-grade sci-fi young-adult audiobook action-adventure fiction -
Gentlemen Prefer Villains by C. Rochelle
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 9 ratingsSimonI needed to get the hell out of Big City.The only reason I was living in this American wasteland was because my mother insisted I reconcile with my estranged father. That the idea came to her while drunk on the French bubbly should have been my sign to stay right where I belonged.Anywhere but here. Certainly somewhere more fabulous... -
Alien in the House by Gini Koch
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsJeff and Kitty Katt-Martini have learned the ins and outs of Washington politics, not to mention how to prevail in intergalactic war and foil dangerous plots. But, in the aftermath of Operation Destruction, the Gower girls’ powers are burned out, the entire A-C population has been “outed” as the aliens living on Earth that they are, and, worst of all, ACE is nowhere to be found... -
Catfishing on CatNet by Naomi Kritzer
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsHow much does the internet know about YOU? Because her mom is always on the move, Steph hasn’t lived anyplace longer than six months. Her only constant is an online community called CatNet—a social media site where users upload cat pictures—a place she knows she is welcome. What Steph doesn’t know is that the admin of the site, CheshireCat, is a sentient A.I... -
The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsIn a futuristic world ravaged by global warming, people have lost the ability to dream, and the dreamlessness has led to widespread madness. The only people still able to dream are North America's Indigenous people, and it is their marrow that holds the cure for the rest of the world. But getting the marrow, and dreams, means death for the unwilling donors... -
Exo by Steven Gould
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsCent can teleport. So can her parents, but they are the only people in the world who can. This is not as great as you might think it would be — sure, you can go shopping in Japan and then have tea in London, but it’s hard to keep a secret like that. And there are people, dangerous people, who work for governments and have guns, who want to make you do just this one thing for them...Categorized as:
coming-of-age super-powered action-adventure audiobook book contemporary fiction space -
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The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsA mysterious child lands in the care of a solitary woman, changing both of their lives forever in this captivating debut of connection across space and time."This is when your life begins."Nia Imani is a woman out of place and outside of time... -
Limited Wish by Mark Lawrence
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 19 ratingsOne choice. Two possible timelines. And a world hanging in the balance.It’s the summer of 1986 and reluctant prodigy Nick Hayes is a student at Cambridge University, working with world-renowned mathematician Professor Halligan. He just wants to be a regular student, but regular isn’t really an option for a boy-genius cancer survivor who’s already dabbled in time travel... -
A Year Without Autumn by Liz Kessler
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsOn her way to visit her best friend, Autumn, Jenni Green suddenly finds she's been transported exactly one year forward in time. Now she discovers that in the year that's gone by, tragedy has struck and her friendship with Autumn will never be the same again...Categorized as:
coming-of-age family action-adventure book children children-books contemporary fiction -
Timeless by Rachel Spangler
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWhat would you change about your past if you had the chance? What if you didn't have a choice? Stevie Geller doesn't do conflict. She likes her job as a successful novelist and playwright because it allows her to peacefully ensconce herself in her New York City loft, avoid human interactions, and leave personal drama for the page and stage... -
On the Edge of Gone by Corinne Duyvis
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsJanuary 29, 2035.That’s the day the comet is scheduled to hit—the big one. Denise and her mother and sister, Iris, have been assigned to a temporary shelter near their hometown of Amsterdam to wait out the blast, but Iris is nowhere to be found, and at the rate Denise’s drug-addicted mother is going, they’ll never reach the shelter in time... -
Gonzalez & Daughter Trucking Co.: A Road Novel with Literary License by María Amparo Escandón
Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsFrom the author of L.A. Weather comes “a whimsical, humorous, and passionate mystery that explores the love and hurt of a father and daughter on the run” (Jorge Ramos, News Anchor for Univision).“1,001 nights in a Mexicali women’s prison . . . González and Daughter Trucking Co. is about our compulsion to make events into stories and stories into bridges of understanding...Categorized as:
family coming-of-age fiction contemporary young-adult womens-fiction latinx-mc prison -
More Than This by Patrick Ness
Rated: 3.93 of 5 stars · 34 ratingsA boy drowns, desperate and alone in his final moments. He dies. Then he wakes, naked and bruised and thirsty, but alive. How can this be? And what is this strange deserted place?As he struggles to understand what is happening, the boy dares to hope... -
Begin, End, Begin: A #LoveOzYA Anthology by Danielle Binks, Amie Kaufman
Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe YA event of the year. Bestsellers. Award-winners. Superstars. This anthology has them all...Categorized as:
coming-of-age family lgbtq action-adventure anthologies contemporary fiction friendship -
Superior by Jessica Lack
Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA superhero's intern falls in love with a supervillain's apprentice in this star-crossed LGBT YA story from The Book Smugglers. Here's the thing about being a superhero intern: there's a lot less crime fighting than you think there will be, what with the whole liability issue and the administrative headache of constantly monitoring the Heroic Help Hotline... -
The Virtue of Sin by Shannon Schuren
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsA novel about speaking out, standing up, and breaking free.Miriam lives in New Jerusalem, a haven in the desert far away from the sins and depravity of the outside world. Within the gates of New Jerusalem, and under the eye of its founder and leader, Daniel, Miriam knows she is safe. Cared for... -
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Daredreamers: A Start-up of Superheroes by Kartik Sharma, Ravi Nirmal Sharma
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsIndia’s first start-up of superheroes with a mission of saving lives is here to kick ass. Rasiq is riding the highs of life thanks to his successes as an investment banker. But his arrogance soon gets the better of him and he ends up losing everything he holds dear... -
Cagebird by Karin Lowachee
Rated: 4.01 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsAt age four, Yuri Kirov watched his home colony destroyed by the alien enemy. By six,he was a wounded soul, fending for himself in a desolate refugee camp, and still a child when the pirates found him. Now 24, Yuri is a killer, a spy, a blackmailer, and a pirate captain doing life in prison... -
My Chemical Mountain by Corina Vacco
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsRocked by his father's recent death and his mother's sudden compulsion to overeat, Jason lashes out by breaking into the abandoned mills and factories that plague his run-down town. Always by his side are his two best friends, Charlie, a fearless thrill junkie, and Cornpup, a geek inventor whose back is covered with cysts...Categorized as:
coming-of-age family action-adventure book children-books contemporary death disaster -
The Love Interest by Helen Comerford
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA swoony, speculative and entirely electric YA debut with a humorous and satirical take on the conventions of the superhero-verse, for fans of Michelle Quach's Not Here To Be Liked and the Marvel Universe.Seventeen-year-old Jenna Ray has just been saved by the world's newest superhero, Blaze. And, in the eyes of the public, that means one thing: Jenna Ray has been cast as the Love Interest.No...Categorized as:
super-powered coming-of-age romance young-adult fantasy sci-fi fiction mental-illness -
Cosmic by Frank Cottrell Boyce
Rated: 3.89 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsLiam is too big for his boots. And his football strip. And his school blazer. But being super-sized height-wise has its advantages: he's the only eleven-year-old to ever ride the G-force defying Cosmic rollercoaster - or be offered the chance to drive a Porsche. Long-legged Liam makes a giant leap for boy-kind by competing with a group of adults for the chance to go into space... -
Trapped by Ella James
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsBook Description:Contains mild spoilers if you haven’t read Here, the first book in the trilogy...
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