I picked up this book at the library because I wanted to read an emotionally devastating book, and I knew that Brigid Kemmerer had 2 contemporary fiction books that are that for me! Unfortunately for me, I ended up getting my least favorite out of her contemporary novels LOL so that itch is left unscratched for me. With that being said, the writing and the plot are still superb, because it is a Brigid Kemmer novel, but it just wasn't what I was looking for.

This is my second time reading this book, and looking over my review, I feel very similarly to how I felt when I read it for the first time. There's something about the main characters that just don't feel particularly relatable, and it's not that the story feels contrived necessarily, but it doesn't hold a ton of weight for me personally. With that being said, the entire story feels very realistic and believable. While living in and going to parties in mansions isn't very relatable, the whole story was written in a way that made it very easy to believe and understand why/how people would do it.

The small town setting in this book was so lovely, and being able to go hang out and get fast food or go to Wegmans seems so fun! I liked Maegan's relationship with her sister and how that grew over time. Rob's relationship with Owen was hard to read, but did end up turning out positively, which I did like. There were some heavier topics discussed, such as disability, suicide, abortion, social isolation, and bullying.

All in all, this book was good, but wasn't my favorite. I probably wouldn't read it again.

This book follows two teenagers: Rob, who is a social outcast after his father was found embezzling money from a good percentage of the town, and Maegan, a member of an “appearances are everything” family who is forced to deal with the reality Maegan’s older sister is home from college, pregnant. When Rob and Maegan are paired together for a calculus project, they get more and more involved in each other’s worlds until they can no longer pretend they don’t care about each other.

Things I Liked:
-I’m a big fan of the young adult formula: two kids who feel like they can’t talk to anyone get matched up for a school project and realize they have more in common then they even imagined. This book did that trope really well.
-There ended up being a little bit of a mystery in this book and I wasn’t expecting that! It was a pleasant little surprise and made me feel that much more sympathy for Rob and his family.
-Rob (and Maegan) are classic teenagers: making dumb decisions but often for good reasons. Teenagers need to see this because they too are, more than likely, going to be making some bad decisions. They need to know that things will be ok and it’s not the end of the world when a bad decision is made.
-Once again, another super solid teacher librarian being the one constant adult in a teenager’s life. Why are we punishing librarians for the amazing, incredible things they do on a daily basis that has nothing to do with the books on the shelves?

Things I Didn’t Like:
-I understand Rob’s father did a really terrible thing but holy smokes Maegan’s parents are super strict about them not hanging out. Why are some parents just… the absolute worst sometimes? Kids are not their parents and it would do some adults some good to remember that.
-Samantha’s pregnancy — [SLIGHT SPOILER AHEAD] I know situations like this happen but OH MY GOSH he should never be in front of a classroom ever again. Is he only teaching college because his students would all be legal? It makes my stomach turn and I wanted so much better for Samantha. [SPOILER OVER]
-This wasn’t the best written young adult book. I haven’t read any of Kemmerer’s fantasy books, but I didn’t love this one. In fact, I kind of found myself hate listening to the last 1/4 of the book. I was so invested I had to know what happened to the characters but I really wanted the story to be over. As with all reviews, this is my personal opinion and the next reader may think this book is the easiest 5 stars they’ve ever given out. It just dampened my enthusiasm for this book.

loved the romance but not nearly as much as i loved the nonromantic relationships and the classism discussions

I love Rob’s character. I sometimes was really annoyed with Maegan when she compared her sister being pregnant to Rob’s dad committing suicide.

This book has such heavy topics for each character, I was super impressed with how they all flowed from each different personality but together.

Rob’s father is caught embezzling and decides to end his life. It catches his frontal lobe and throughout the story he and his mother take care of him  (very reluctantly). Meanwhile Megean  was caught cheating on the SATs last year and caused the whole class to retake it; and although she’s never made a mistake like this before, she’s labeled the cheater by the school population. 

This book was difficult to put down and the plot twists as you fall deeper. I found the end written almost too suddenly, but it makes sense so you can’t be too let down. 

I recommend this book if you like:
-YA high school contemporary
-slow burn romance
-drama and scandal

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Maegan and Rob's stories. Both Rob and Maegan go to the same High School, both have very different social circles and both have heavy family drama to deal with. When they become project partners, they start to understand each other's struggles in life. They form a nice connection and become each other's confident and eventually more.

This book tackles heavy topics like teen pregnancy, rich vs poor, crime, attempted suicide and struggling friendships.