Books like Sand Chronicles, Vol. 1

Sand Chronicles took me surprise. I was expecting a sweet, light, maybe even shallow romance. And it wasn't. Oh, the romance itself is sweet enough. This is not instalove, thank goodness. It's a first romance that grows over time between friends. There's also surprising depth to Ann's personal life, with a mother struggling with (undiagnosed in the book, but really quite obvious) depression and Ann building a second family of friends. There's a lot to identify with here, and the characters are realistically and sympathetically written. Two minor issues for me: there's a little too much girl-smacking-boy-because-he's-offended-her for my taste, and the plot in this volume was a little bit thin. Still, I enjoyed the writing and the characters enough to continue with the series.