In this opposites-attract YA rom-com inspired by the period romantic comedy Emma, a failed romantic gesture puts a damper on a queer teen bookseller’s summer of book matching and matchmaking until a handsome lifeguard and romance skeptic waltzes into his bookstore. Sometimes you get a second chance at happily ever after when you least expect it.
Recommended Reading is a big-hearted rom-com about discovering love beyond what’s in the books… but hey, the perfect recommendation can get you pretty far.

Bobby Ashton is an expert on love; he knows exactly which steamy novel is the best fit for anyone, and can kindle any spark he detects between people into a burning passion. He can orchestrate the most romantic proposal. He just can’t seem to use his expertise for himself. His plans for the perfect summer evaporate when his demonstration of love for the perfect boyfriend results in his falling into a fountain and smashing the window to his favorite bookstore. With his dreams shattered, he accepts a position in a used bookstore where he earns a reputation for book recommendations and develops unlikely friendships with a grumpy coworker and an attractive boy who claims to have no interest in romance. As his friendship with the boy develops, he begins to wonder if they might be more than just friends, and if love is possible without a grand gesture.

Recommended Reading challenges the ideal of love often portrayed in contemporary culture, an ideal held by Bobby at the start of the novel. Bobby explains: “Love is for beautiful people in books and movies, not fat, bookish boys who fall into fountains and smash windows.” As Bobby’s detailed plans to find that kind of love for himself and for others collapse all around him, he comes to realize that real love is more often messy, unexpected and unceremonious. He also learns to find beauty in people (and places) who, on first appearance, seem less than glamorous and sometimes even broken – most notably as he comes to terms with his own identity and lovability as a curvaceous and gay teen. This idea is reinforced, in the background, as his mother literally turns the broken glass from Bobby’s earlier efforts at love into a beautiful statue. In Recommended Reading, Coccia masterfully combines humor with heart-touching moments of self-discovery as he shows how humor can often force us to accept ourselves and others for who we are rather than who we think we ought to be. Be prepared to burst out laughing and wipe a tear with each page turn!
– James Steeves