The Square Root of Summer, and 4 More Books to Read Once You’ve Devoured It

Gottie’s grandfather died in September. Her (secret) boyfriend broke up with her in October. It’s June now, and Gottie is only half-aware of how she spent the months in between. But everything’s changing—or, in some ways, returning to normal: her brother is home from college, her best friend is speaking to her again, and her childhood best friend Thomas is back in town. Living with her. And he’s super cute. And Gottie keeps dropping into a wormhole every time he’s around. Okay, so maybe things aren’t totally normal.
Math nerd that she is, Gottie’s determined to figure out what exactly is happening to her and fill in the weird gaps in her memory. And if the world is in the wish-granting mood, well, it would also be nice to know why Thomas abandoned her five years ago. But one thing is for sure: once you finish The Square Root of Summer, you’re going to want to read something else like it. But since it’s such a mind-bending blend of a genres, the possibilities are wide open. Here are a few we recommend pairing with this gorgeous, nerdy debut.

An Abundance of Katherines, by John Green
Gottie is a math genius. Equations come naturally to her—which is why she’s so determined to come up with one to explain her wormholes. Colin is a math genius, too, only much more publicly so. And now that he’s graduated high school, he can think of only one problem he wants to solve: why girls named Katherine keep breaking up with him (19 times, to be exact).
Full of charts and nerd monologues and plenty of references to math-y things, not to mention bad past relationships and the giant question mark of life after high school, The Square Root of Summer and An Abundance of Katherines could be sister-novels. And you should definitely read both.

The Love That Split the World, by Emily Henry
Both of these beautiful YA debuts came out this year, and they both involve an intriguing, mysterious bit of time-looping. The main difference? While Gottie’s trying to figure out if she’s just daydreaming, getting lost in memories brought on by grief and loneliness, Natalie is afraid she might be going insane. It started with the strange old woman who shows up in her “dreams” and gives her cryptic advice. And then there’s the boy no one else seems to know—or see. Add in the fact that she keeps popping into an alternate reality, and the only thing keeping her from going crazy is that at least her psychiatrist seems to believe her. If you’re looking for time travel mysteries, drenched in summer and haunted by deadlines, these enchanting reads were written just for you.

Dream Factory, by Brad Barkley and Heather Hepler
Like Gottie, Ella’s got some grieving to do. And like Gottie, she doesn’t really have anyone around to help her through it. Her brother died in a car accident, and her parents responded by shipping themselves off to mission work, leaving Ella to sort things out by herself. Which is probably why she’s been in a sort of fugue state ever since, going through the motions until college starts.
Until, of course, she meets a boy. Luke has troubles of his own, but their easy camaraderie draws Ella out of the in-between state she’s been living in. Toss in the ridiculous backdrop of Disney World, loads of fuzzy costumes, and an end-of-summer deadline, and you’ve got a hilarious story you’ll want to drop into.

Lola and the Boy Next Door, by Stephanie Perkins
Is it just us, or does everyone seem to have a ridiculous boyfriend in a semi-okay band who’s way too moody for his own good? Okay, maybe it’s just Gottie and Lola. But while Gottie’s struggling to figure out why her (secret) ex-boyfriend Jason abandoned her, Lola is struggling to make things work with Max. They’re both surprised and thrown off when their ex-best friends come back to town—and prove that just because you’re nerdy and weird, it doesn’t mean you can’t be stupidly cute. If you like bad boys, best friends, and the awkward juggle of navigating two oddball relationships, The Square Root of Summer and Lola and the Boy Next Door will tickle your bookish fancy. And make you laugh. And then make you cry when you realize you’ve already finished them. Why can’t good books last forever?