Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.
I decided to change things up this week and do a different topic than. To celebrate the kids going back to school, I thought I’d spotlight 10 books that have a school setting. Let’s see what we came up with!
1. Sweet Nightmare
Author: Tracy Wolff
Series: The Calder Academy #1
Page Length: 496
Publication Date: May 7, 2024
Publisher: Entangled
Synopsis: The scariest school on earth
Is about to experience real fear…
Most schools are about being the best. This school? It’s about being the worst. Calder Academy is where the rogue paranormals go. The ones who break the rules or lose control. And when that happens for vamps, werewolves, witches, and dark fae? It gets pretty freaking scary.
I should know. Because I’m trapped here.
Look, every seventeen-year-old girl thinks their mom is a tyrant. But mine just happens to run Calder Academy, which paints a giant target on my back. The way I make it through these dark halls is by steering clear of the things―and kids―who go bump in the night.
Especially Jude Abernathy-Lee.
But when a freak storm hits our isolated island, I’m stuck without a backup plan. The power is gone. The lights are out. And our worst nightmares are suddenly real―and out for blood.
Now the only way to survive is to align myself with one evil to avoid the other.
And the only thing worse than the idea of getting close to Jude? Secretly loving every minute of it.
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
2. Past Present Future
Author: Rachel Lynn Solomon
Series: Rowan & Neil
Page Length: 384
Publication Date: June 4, 2024
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Synopsis: They fell for each other in just twenty-four hours. Now Rowan and Neil embark on a long-distance relationship during their first year of college in this romantic, dual points of view sequel to Today Tonight Tomorrow .
When longtime rivals Rowan Roth and Neil McNair confessed their feelings on the last day of senior year, they knew they’d only have a couple months together before they left for college. Now summer is over, and they’re determined to make their relationship work as they begin school in different states.
In Boston, Rowan is eager to be among other aspiring novelists, learning from a creative writing professor she adores. She’s just not sure why she suddenly can’t seem to find her voice.
In New York, Neil embraces the chaos of the city, clicking with a new friend group more easily than he anticipated. But when his past refuses to leave him alone, he doesn’t know how to handle his rapidly changing mental health—or how to talk about it with the girl he loves.
Over a year of late-night phone calls, weekend visits, and East Coast adventures, Rowan and Neil fall for each other again and again as they grapple with the uncertainty of their new lives. They’ve spent so many years at odds with each other—now that they’re finally on the same team, what does the future hold for them?
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
3. My Mechanical Romance
Author: Alexene Farol Follmuth
Page Length: 272
Publication Date: May 31, 2022
Publisher: Holiday House
Synopsis: Nerds are so hot.
Especially battle robot building nerds.
Bel would rather die than think about the future. College apps? You’re funny. Extracurriculars? Not a chance. But when she accidentally reveals a talent for engineering at school, she’s basically forced into joining the robotics club. Even worse? All the boys ignore Bel—and Neelam, the only other girl on the team, doesn’t seem to like her either.
Enter Mateo Luna, captain of the club, who recognizes Bel as a potential asset—until they start butting heads. Bel doesn’t care about Nationals, while Teo cares too much. But as the nights of after-school work grow longer and longer, Bel and Teo realize they’ve built more than just a combat-ready robot for the championship: they’ve made space for each other and themselves.
This sharply funny, academic rivals to lovers romance explores both the challenges girls of color face in STEM and the vulnerability of first love with unfailing wit and honesty.
4. This Book Won’t Burn
Author: Samira Ahmed
Page Length: 384
Publication Date: May 7, 2024
Genre: Young Adult Realistic Contemporary
Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers
Synopsis: From the New York Times bestselling author of Internment comes a timely and gripping social-suspense novel about book banning, activism, and standing up for what you believe.
After her dad abruptly abandons her family and her mom moves them a million miles from their Chicago home, Noor Khan is forced to start the last quarter of her senior year at a new school, away from everything and everyone she knows and loves. Reeling from being uprooted and deserted, Noor is certain the key to survival is to keep her head down and make it to graduation. But things aren’t so simple. At school, Noor discovers hundreds of books have been labeled “obscene” or “pornographic” and are being removed from the library in accordance with a new school board policy. Even worse, virtually all the banned books are by queer and BIPOC authors. Noor can’t sit back and do nothing, because that goes against everything she believes in, but challenging the status quo just might put a target on her back. Can she effect change by speaking up? Or will small-town politics—and small-town love—be her downfall?
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
5. Duchess Material
Author: Emily Sullivan
Page Length: 336
Publication Date: Nov. 19, 2024
Publisher: Forever Publishing
Synopsis: Ever since unexpectedly inheriting a dukedom over a decade ago, William Margrave, the Duke of Ellis has strived to silence his critics and please his disapproving relatives by being the perfect aristocrat —even though that meant leaving behind the progressive ideals he once held. Now the time has come for Will to wed and he intends to find his duchess using the same relentlessly clinical approach that has led to his success thus far. The only problem? His old friend’s unconventional younger sister keeps interrupting his carefully controlled life. And to make matters worse, Will discovers he rather likes it.
The Atkinson sisters are known for two their father’s self-made fortune and their disinterest in playing by society’s rules. Middle sister Phoebe Atkinson revels in her role as the outspoken bluestocking Bohemian, much to the exasperation of her older sister Alexandra, the budding economist, and the amusement of her younger sister Winifred, the endlessly charming social butterfly. Though her parents would love to see her married to an upstanding member of the ton, Phoebe traded the ballroom for the schoolroom years ago and now spends her days teaching working class girls. But when her most promising student goes missing, Phoebe reluctantly turns to the most powerful man she knows, the Duke of Ellis. He was once the object of her girlhood affections until he ascended to the dukedom and left his old life behind. But as they search across London, she discovers that perhaps Will hasn’t changed as much as she thought—and neither have her feelings.
GOODREADS | AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE
6. The Backtrack
Author: Erin La Rosa
Page Length: 304
Publication Date: July 16, 2024
Publisher: Canary Street Press
Synopsis: Life, rewound …
Nearly twenty years ago, Sam Leto left her small hometown of Tybee Island, Georgia, to pursue her dreams of becoming a pilot. While she’d prefer to keep flying away from her painful childhood memories, her beloved grandmother Pearl decides it’s time to sell the family home. Reluctantly, Sam is summoned back to pack up the house.
The 2000s nostalgia from Sam’s old bedroom hits Fall Out Boy posters, drawers of roll-on body glitter and even her favorite CD player with a mixtape from her best friend, Damon Rocha. Damon was always a safe place and Sam often wonders what if her teenage self admitted her feelings for him back then…
Mysteriously, the CD player still works all these years later. And somehow it has the power to show Sam an alternate version of her life.
Song by song, Sam receives flashbacks from her past—senior prom, graduation, leaving home. But the memories aren’t as she remembers them; they show what could have been. Suddenly, Sam knows exactly what would have happened if she’d taken a chance with Damon—and she can’t help feeling she made a terrible mistake leaving Tybee all those years ago.
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
7. All’s Fair in Love and War
Author: Virginia Heath
Page Length: 384
Publication Date: May 28, 2024
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Synopsis: A new Regency romp of a series, about governess who believes in cultivating joy in her charges, clashes with the children’s uncle who hired her, only to find herself falling in love.
When the flighty older sister of former naval captain, Henry Kincaid, decides on a whim to accompany her explorer husband on an expedition to Egypt, he finds himself unwittingly left in the lurch with her three unruly children and her giant, mad dog. With no clue how to manage the little rascals, a busy career at the Admiralty that requires all of his attention, and no idea when his sister is coming back, Harry has to hire an emergency governess to ensure that everything in his ordered house continues to run shipshape. In desperation, he goes to Miss Prentice’s School for Girls prepared to pay whatever it takes to get a governess quick sharp to bring order to the chaos.
Thanks to her miserable, strict upbringing, fledgling governess Georgina Rowe does not subscribe to the ethos that children should be seen and not heard. She believes childhood should be everything that hers wasn’t, filled with laughter, adventure, and discovery. Thankfully, the three Pendleton children she has been tasked with looking after are already delightfully bohemian and instantly embrace her unconventional educational ethos. Their staid, stickler-for-the-rules uncle, however, is another matter entirely…
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
8. House of Marionne
Author: J. Elle
Page Length: 400
Publication Date: Aug. 29, 2023
Publisher: Razorbill
Synopsis: RICH IS THE BLOOD OF THE CHOSEN.
17 year-old Quell has lived her entire life on the run. She and her mother have fled from city to city, in order to hide the deadly magic that flows through Quell’s veins.
Until someone discovers her dark secret.
To hide from the assassin hunting her, and keep her mother out of harm’s way, Quell reluctantly inducts into a debutante society of magical social elites called the Order that she never knew existed. If she can pass their three rites of membership, mastering their proper form of magic, she’ll be able to secretly bury her forbidden magic forever.
If caught, she will be killed.
But becoming the perfect debutante is a lot harder than Quell imagined, especially when there’s more than tutoring happening with Jordan, her brooding mentor and— assassin in training.
When Quell uncovers the deadly lengths the Order will go to defend its wealth and power, she’s forced to choose: embrace the dark magic she’s been running from her entire life or risk losing everything, and everyone, she’s grown to love.
Still, she fears the most formidable monster she’ll have to face is the one inside.
9. Elements of Power
Author: Kate Stoessel
Series: Council of the Harvest Moon #1
Publication Date: April 5, 2021
Publisher: Rhodes & Co
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy
Synopsis: The Council of the Harvest Moon was established to maintain peace among the witches, fairies, vampires, and mermaids of the United States. However, old feuds die hard and as the powers of fairies wane with the destruction of natural environments, the witches rise with a rigid societal structure designed to assert their supremacy as the most powerful supernatural beings in the modern world.
As the descendant of two prominent New England witching families, Khlorie Lethestone’s life was destined to fit into the neat, color-coded boxes established by the American Continental Coven (ACC). When it is discovered that Khlorie has powers beyond that of a typical witch, she is sent to Spindlewick College, a secret institution designed to help witches develop non-conforming gifts into tools for the greater good of witching society. Once there, she meets the attractive, but distant Perry Prentice, who is assigned to help her understand her gifts. But becoming one of the most powerful witches in the world means that you are watched closely, and Khlorie learns that there are secrets she must keep hidden to survive.
10. Icebreaker
Author: Hannah Grace
Series: UCMH #1
Page Length: 435
Publication Date: Aug. 23, 2022
Publisher: Pig & Bear Pub;lishing
Synopsis: Anastasia Allen has worked her entire life for a shot at Team USA.
A competitive figure skater since she was five years old, a full college scholarship thanks to her place on the Maple Hills skating team, and a schedule that would make even the most driven person weep, Stassie comes to win.
No exceptions.
Nathan Hawkins has never had a problem he couldn’t solve. As captain of the Maple Hills Titans, he knows the responsibility of keeping the hockey team on the ice rests on his shoulders.
When a misunderstanding results in the two teams sharing a rink, and Anastasia’s partner gets hurt in the aftermath, Nate finds himself swapping his stick for tights, and one scary coach for an even scarier one.
The pair find themselves stuck together in more ways than one, but it’s fine, because Anastasia doesn’t even like hockey players…right?
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Love school settings! There are so many books here that I still need to get to. I’ve only read Icebreaker.
I haven’t read that one. I’ve heard great things about it, though!
House of Marion was a compelling read – have an ARC of the sequel waiting.
Oooh, I hope you enjoy it, Teri! 🙂
Great change for the top ten, Julie, with school starting at this time of year.
Thanks, Carla! My girls start tomorrow, and my son starts Tuesday, so I definitely have school on the brain!
My grandkids start on Tuesday as well.
Great selection of YA books here.
Thanks! 🙂
Great list. I actually love school settings and I don’t think I’ve read any of these!!
Nice!!