Kind of Sort of Fine by Spencer Hall - AVERAGE

Kind of Sort of Fine by Spencer Hall, 276 pages. Ateneum (Simon), 2021. $19. 

Language: R (40 swears, 2 ‘f’); Mature Content: R (m**ating mentioned, descriptive body words); Violence: G 

BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL 

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE 

At the tail end of her junior year, Hayley Miles had a moment – a very public moment that ended with the police being called and endless replays via social media. The principal and the school therapist insists that now, as senior year starts, that Hayley step away from her heavy load of AP classes. As a compromise, Hayley agrees to give up competitive tennis and instead join the AV club. Lewis has spent his whole summer parked in front of his video game console – so much that he really feels like a schlub. He decides that running – really late at night, with absolutely no witnesses may be just the thing, even if the first few hundred steps just about kill him. What he doesn’t expect is to see Hayley Mills in his beloved AV club. As the pair craft profile videos about their fellow seniors together, they may each find something worth hanging onto. 

I love that both Hayley and Lewis are pushed out of their comfort zones and out of their comfortable assumptions about not just each other, bit about life. They also have supportive parents (not absentee parents, not helicopter parents), but are still allowed room to grow. For readers who like their reality with a little less danger, grit, or romance, Hall dishes up a beautiful slice of life. 

Cindy, Library Teacher, MLS