High School Romance Recommendation: “What Happens After You Confess Your Feelings to Someone?”

Julia Sudnitskaya/Shutterstock.com

The high school romance “What Happens After You Confess Your Feelings to Someone?” is the story of a high school sophomore named Chloe who has a big crush on a junior at her school named Mordecai. If Chloe were allowed to date, Mordecai claims he would date her. But she won’t be allowed to until senior year. And even though Mordecai knows how Chloe feels about him at the start of the story, his behavior seems to suggest that he’s indifferent to her feelings. And his indifference often leaves Chloe heartbroken.

Even so, she continues to love him and hold onto their complicated friendship, hoping that one day Mordecai will finally ask her out.

At the same time, Chloe has a friend named Simon. He’s a new sophomore at her high school, and his love for Chloe is obvious from the start. But his nice guy ways are lost on her. Senior year is fast approaching, after all. And with Chloe’s deep love for Mordecai, she’s really hoping that he’s the one she gets to date when she’s finally allowed to.

But Simon is a good friend to Chloe. He’s constant and reliable, while Mordecai can be moody and unpredictable. And while Chloe and Mordecai’s friendship is mostly private, at least at the beginning of the story, Simon and Chloe’s friendship is public. If only it weren’t so hard for Simon to find the courage to confess his feelings to Chloe.

So, what’s going to happen in the end? Will Mordecai finally give Chloe what she wants—a real romantic relationship? Or will Simon find a way to earn her affection?

In this story, the answer isn’t so simple.

While there are many options for a good YA romance you could lose yourself in, I highly recommend this story—and it’s not just because I wrote it. I think this story has a vibe that’s different from what you might find in many young adult romance books. And to give you some reasons why I think so—and why you should give this teen romance a chance—here are nine of them.

9 Reasons to Read the New YA Romance “What Happens After You Confess Your Feelings to Someone?”

1. There’s no instant connection between lovers.

   Sometimes in young adult romance, two characters can have an instant attraction to each other. While that can be fun to read about, it’s not always the way it happens in real life. In real life, relationships can be complicated and messy. And in real life, it can be unclear whether two people in a friendship really are just friends or whether there’s something more going on. This is especially true for teenagers.
   
   So, you won’t get that instant connection in this story. Instead, you’ll get the complications and messiness that can come with teen relationships. For example, you’ll see how both Chloe and Simon are dealing with unrequited love for a friend at the beginning. It takes a while before overt romantic involvement happens, which gives the relationships time to bloom and blossom and go through all sorts of turns and twists on the way.

2. You’ll get emotions and maturity, but no spice.

   If you’re looking for a high school love story without spice, you’ve found one. It’s true that sometimes the characters have mature conversations. And sometimes Chloe, who’s narrating the story, thinks about the concept of sex. But when characters become romantically involved, their physical connection is limited to kissing and being physically close.
   
   I like that the story includes those mature discussions because I think that helps give it more authenticity (more on that in #7). These are the kinds of things real teenagers might be talking about. But at the same time, you get the innocence that comes with not having the characters become intimately involved. That means you’re able to enjoy more of the emotional connection they share.
   
   And that’s the thing. With this story, while there’s no spice, there is a lot of emotion. So, prepare yourself for the emotional roller coaster ride that comes with an intense high school crush—and a hidden crush on a friend.

3. You get to choose the ending.

   As I mentioned in the introduction, the ending of the story isn’t so simple. That’s because, in this teen romance, you get to choose the ending. When you reach a certain chapter, you’ll get to decide whether you want Chloe to end up with Mordecai or Simon. And then you can read the rest of the story based on the outcome you pick.
   
   This is an atypical way to experience teen romance. But I think it makes the experience more fun because it puts you in the driver’s seat.

4. You can experience a full love triangle.

   Because you have two choices for the ending of this story, if you decide to read both endings, you’ll get to experience a full love triangle. Whereas other love triangles might be less balanced because the main character ends up choosing only one of their love interests, in this story, you’ll actually get to see what happens if Chloe chooses both of them.
   
   Of course, you don’t have to read both endings if you don’t want to. If you prefer one, feel free to reread that ending as many times as you like. But if you are the type of person who likes to reread your favorite YA romance stories, you might enjoy this twist—getting to read two different stories in one.

5. You’ll get a fresh take on the “friends to lovers” trope.

   Chloe’s friendships with both Mordecai and Simon are complicated in their way. But I would say that her friendship with Mordecai is much more complicated because it’s more private at the beginning and, despite knowing that Chloe likes him, Mordecai hasn’t shared how he feels about her.
   
   Simon and Chloe’s friendship is lovely. But two things that make it complicated are Simon’s hidden feelings for Chloe and Chloe’s difficulty giving Simon the time and attention he deserves at times because she’s so lost on Mordecai.
   
   When Chloe finally does pick one of them, it will be a relationship that goes from friends to lovers, but a more complex version than what you may be used to.

6. It’s fodder for nostalgia.

   This story is set in the year 2005—at least, that’s where you’ll find yourself at the start. I set it at this time because that’s when I was in high school. And I wanted to include elements that wouldn’t make a lot of sense if I made the setting more recent.
   
   Even so, because this story takes place in the not-so-distant past, you’ll get to enjoy some of the benefits of modernity, like chatting over IM (instant messaging) and using cellphones, while also enjoying some of the simplicity of the past—like not being able to check in on your crush’s every move through social media. So, if you’re feeling nostalgic for a simpler time that still includes some modern elements, this story is for you.

7. You’ll read about authentic characters.

   None of the main characters in this story is perfect. While they all try to be good people, they have their flaws. And this helps makes them more authentic and relatable.
   
   I would consider Chloe the “good girl,” and she does try to be good. But she’s also a teenager, so she slips from time to time. And her strong feelings for Mordecai sometimes lead her to do or consider doing things she might never otherwise consider doing.
   
   Simon is the “good friend,” and he really does try to be a good friend. In fact, some people might use the term “nice” to describe him, even though he probably wouldn’t want to hear that. But his attempts to be a good friend sometimes lead him to overstep his bounds, at least in Chloe’s view. Plus, he struggles to confess his feelings to her.
   
   And then there’s Mordecai, the “guy with secrets.” Because he does have secrets. And when Chloe starts learning about them—she’s the only one he’ll share them with—she understands him better. But she loves him even before she learns about them—even when she has to deal with his moody ways and his unpredictable behavior.

8. You’ll get a unique perspective.

   Chloe is a second-generation Haitian-American with caramel-colored skin and a perm (or “relaxer,” to be more technical) to straighten her hair. Throughout the story, you’ll see Chloe describe what she goes through to keep her perm looking nice.
   
   If you don’t know much about Black hair care, this story might help give you some insight into what the experience can be like for a teenager with permed hair. And if you are familiar with this experience, you might be able to relate to what Chloe goes through.

9. It’s more than a story—it’s an experience.

   Because of the way I designed this teen romance, when you read it, it won’t be as simple as just reading the story from cover to cover. Instead, it’s presented as a sequence of blog posts, with one chapter per post.
   
   And although this content isn’t available yet, in the future I plan to upload things like spotlights on all the main characters to give you more of their back story, along with deleted scenes. When you fall in love with these characters (as I know you will), you’ll want to learn everything you can about them and the world they live in. This content will allow you to do that and immerse yourself in the story even more.
   
   Plus, since you get to choose the ending, you’re also helping to steer the story. The ending hasn’t been decided for you. All of this helps to make this teen romance more of an adventure for the reader, rather than a story that you passively read from cover to cover. (But I know those can be fun, too!)
   
   Because this is a nontraditional high school romance, I’ve made it so that you’ll need to join the What Happens After You Confess membership to read it. So, whenever you’re ready, go ahead and click here to learn more about the membership and to join.

Final Thoughts

As far as high school romance goes, this story has a lot of unique elements to it. You get to choose your ending. You get a fresh take on some YA romance tropes. You’ll read about authentic, relatable characters. You’ll get emotions but no spice. Innocence and maturity. Simplicity and modernity. And a fresh perspective.

Even so, it’s how all of these elements are combined to give you a complete story—or two, if you want—that really help to make reading it an experience you don’t want to miss.

So, if you’re looking for a new high school YA romance you can dive into, I look forward to seeing you in the What Happens After You Confess membership!

~ Ashley C.

P.S. If you would like to sample my story-writing style, feel free to click here to read some short stories that are currently available.