When Sam and Penny cross paths it s less meet-cute and more a collision of unbearable awkwardness. Still, they swap numbers and stay in touch via text and soon become digitally inseparable, sharing their deepest anxieties and secret dreams without the humiliating weirdness of having to see each other.
This is marketed as YA, but maybe YA-ish is a little more accurate? The two main characters are college students, and one of them is 21, so they're a little older than a YA target audience. The themes are familiar to any YA fan - both main characters are figuring out who they are and who they want to be, and how other people fit inside their lives. Penny is still in a teenaged "I hate my mom" phase and I really liked the final scene between her and her mom where they found some common ground and a way back to each other while acknowledging they are very different people. I don't know anything about the author, but it felt like she understood what it felt like to be both the mom and the daughter in that scene, and it was really well done. Sam is dealing with a toxic, alcoholic mom and a toxic, pregnant ex-girlfriend who he's desperately still in love with, as well as a lack of financial stability. It doesn't really sound like the makings of a great romance, but the focus was so much on how he and Penny slowly connect and become friends, rather than plummeting straight into a relationship.
I've been on a roll lately of a lot of well written books with really nicely done characters, and this book did not disappoint in that regard.
Reading updates
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Started reading
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2 April, 2019:
Finished reading
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2 April, 2019:
Reviewed