I’m so excited that this is my first review of 2017! I am a HUGE HUGE fan of Tim Federle’s work. Reading his books are like a treat for me, so I put off reading this one so I could get through some of the more daunting books on my list. However, at the end of the year when it was obvious I would hit my Goodreads goal, I said “Kat, treat yo self.” And so I happily dove in to his latest and greatest novel.

Side note: this is the book I famously pre-ordered, and then forgot I pre-ordered it, and then pre-ordered it again. When the book was released, two copies showed up at my house that day. I tweeted the author about it and he replied with a “ha!”

While his Nate series are for younger kids (and, you know, moms like me), this is a book for an older teen. Our protagonist, Quinn, is a gay 17-year-old who is (not) dealing with the death of his sister/best friend by basically wallowing in depression. His other best friend, Geoff, tries to get him to snap out of it once summer arrives, and Quinn slowly comes out of the dark place he’s in. He meets Amir, an attractive gay man who’s a few years older, and the two hit it off. While distracted with the possibility of his first romance, Quinn also starts to come back to reality, so to speak, and get his life back on course.

Though this has some dark subject matter, Federle’s wit and pop culture expertise (this time, shining a light on his movie knowledge) make this book a delight to read. I anxiously await his next work!