The Start of Me and You by Emery Lord - ADVISABLE

 

The Start of Me and You by Emery Lord, 376 pages.  Bloomsbury, 2015.  $18.  

Content: Language: PG-13 (40 swears); Mature Content: PG-13; Violence: G.  

BUYING ADVISORY: MS, HS – ADVSIABLE  

AUDIENCE APPEAL: HIGH  

High school junior, Paige Hancock, is known at her school as the girlfriend of Aaron who died in a drowning accident.  Although Paige only dated Aaron for a short time, she feels defined by his death and wants to get back to being herself.  Paige makes a list of ways that she is going to challenge herself in her junior year of high school, one of which is to go on a date with her long-time crush Ryan Chase.  What Paige doesn’t expect, is to fall for Ryan’s cousin Max.  

I totally enjoyed this teen romance.  Paige is likable and there are enough sub-plots to keep the story interesting.  Paige’s friends are supportive, and Paige’s family has it’s own drama but the story is a fun, fast read.  The mature content is a few implied crass jokes, but for the most part it is a fairly clean read as far as the mature content goes.  

Reviewer, C. Peterson