Language: R (100+ swears, 18 “f”); Mature Content: PG ; Violence: G
BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL
AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE
17yo senior asexual Wren Martin wants to make his mark on his small, beachside town of Rapture, Florida. For his first act as the student council president, he wants to abolish the Valentine’s Day Dance, an expensive rite of passage that Wren would rather use that money elsewhere in the school. His vice president, annoyingly perfect Leo Reyes, suggests partnering with a viral social media app to pay for the school dance and thus, pay for Wren’s fix-it list for the school. So now, Wren is juggling planning the year's biggest party, fixing the school, flirting with an anonymous match, and managing inconveniently changing feelings for one student council VP. Nothing will go wrong, right?
I thoroughly enjoyed this YA rom-com, appreciating its snarky narrator and a predictable, yet engaging anonymous flirtation, reminiscent of "You’ve Got Mail" for the TikTok generation. However, the unrealistic portrayal of the main character and the high school setting took me out of the story a little. Additionally, the book missed an opportunity to fully explore and explain the asexuality end of the LGBTQIA spectrum, despite the main character's identification with it. Regardless, these are things that an average high school reader isn't going to notice or care about. The biggest red flag is the amount of language in the book, making it optional for school libraries.
Reviewer: Kiera Beddes, #bookswithbeddes
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