As summer vacation draws to a close, young people across the U.S. are preparing for the upcoming school year with varying degrees of anticipation and trepidation. These nine recent releases reflect a wide range of experiences, offering readers mirrors for their own lives as well as glimpses into ones that are different and new.

Romance, with all its highs and lows, is an inevitable outcome of teens being thrown together for the majority of their waking hours. These books explore the complexities of figuring out young love.

Belle of the Ball written and illustrated by Mari Costa (First Second, March 21): In this adorable graphic novel rendered in pleasing shades of pink, awkward Belle’s crush on cool cheerleader Gina leads to her tutoring Gina’s jock girlfriend, Chloe, as a favor—and nothing going according to plan.

Rhythm & Muse by India Hill Brown (Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins, May 30): Darren gains joy from singing but fears public performances. A sweet story of personal growth ensues after a love song Darren wrote is secretly shared with his crush, Delia, by a friend.

All Alone With You by Amelia Diane Coombs (Simon & Schuster, July 25): Opposites attract in this charming romance in which misanthropic Eloise, hoping to pad her college resume, volunteers with annoyingly cheerful Austin. They visit a 70-something former rock star, and Eloise gradually finds her defenses breaking down.

Boarding schools hold a certain cachet, and stories set in them are a longtime staple of young people’s literature. More opportunities to be away from parental supervision combined with the intensity of shared living quarters make them ideal settings for intrigue.

What Happens After Midnight by K.L. Walther (Sourcebooks Fire, June 27): An annual tradition at a New England boarding school brings exes Lily and Tag together in this cozy romp. As the pair roams campus setting up the senior prank, self-doubting Lily gains new personal insights.

Ghosted: A Northanger Abbey Novel by Amanda Quain (Wednesday Books, July 25): Even readers who are not Austenites will enjoy this delightfully spooky tale about headmistress’s daughter and paranormal skeptic Hattie, who’s assigned to work with new boy Kit, attending their supposedly haunted school on a ghost-hunting scholarship.

Everyone’s Thinking It by Aleema Omotoni (Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins, Sept. 5): Set in an English boarding school, this nuanced coming-of-age story centering two Nigerian cousins revolves around a mysterious act of sabotage that disrupts social dynamics and throws racial and other power structures into relief.

Heading off to college is a major transition in a young person’s life, and whether or not you feel socially, financially, and academically prepared, it’s one that will inevitably bring challenges and spark personal growth.

Study Break: 11 College Tales From Orientation to Graduation edited by Aashna Avachat (Feiwel & Friends, March 7): Diverse contributors make for an array of glimpses into college life in this anthology that contains loosely connected stories examining the highs and lows of campus life with a particular emphasis on identity and self-acceptance.

First-Year Orientation edited by Lauren Gibaldi and Eric Smith (Candlewick, April 4): This anthology benefits from a rich variety of voices, each offering peeks at what can happen during the emotionally tumultuous first days of college as young people figure out who they are and who they hope to become.

Unnecessary Drama by Nina Kenwood (Flatiron Books, Aug. 8): When anxious overthinker Brooke moves to Melbourne for university, she’s dismayed to be sharing a group house with Jesse, a boy she loathes based on their shared history; genuinely tender moments punctuate the resulting laugh-out-loud-funny mishaps.

Laura Simeon is a young readers’ editor.