A Pretty Implausible Premise

July 15, 2023
Two teens navigating recent tragedies feel an instant connection when they meet on their first day of senior year, but the guilt they each carry threatens their burgeoning relationship. Hattie's mother took off 11 years ago. Since then, Hattie and her dad have fantasized about how the three will be reunited when Hattie swims on the U.S. team at the Olympics. But since 7-year-old Elijah drowned while Hattie was lifeguarding, Hattie has been unable to fathom a future that involves swimming. Presley has relocated from Victoria, British Columbia, to Southern California with his mum and her wife. He and his twin brother, Mac, were ice-skating phenoms until Mac was killed in an auto accident that left Presley with injuries that ended his competitive figure skating dreams. Both feel responsible for the people they have lost, and both deal with physical manifestations of their grief; it is mutual recognition of loss that draws the two together. Their relationship quickly deepens in ways that uncannily parallel the romance novel that has been Hattie's lifeline since Elijah's death. Caring friends, an evacuation spurred by wildfires, and an impromptu road trip all play parts in helping the teens move toward healing. Rivers explores trauma with sensitivity: Readers see the wide range of emotions and coping mechanisms that can come into play. Hattie and Presley are cued white; there is some diversity in race and sexual orientation among their friends. Implausible? Maybe, but also smart and infused with enough heart to make suspending disbelief a pleasure. (Fiction. 12-18)

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Starred review from July 31, 2023
Southern California high school senior and competitive swimmer Hattie, whose mother left the family when Hattie was six, has been haunted by the memory of seven-year-old Elijah Johnston, who recently drowned while Hattie was lifeguarding. Now, she gets panic attacks when she attempts to swim, making her feel that her Olympic aspirations are forfeit, as is her belief that stardom will lure her mother back to her. Meanwhile, Canadian transplant Presley, a decorated figure skater, grieves his twin who died in the car crash that also left Presley with career-ending injuries. When Hattie and Presley meet, he recognizes Hattie’s “haunted shimmer,” and the two immediately fit together with “an almost audible click.” Romantic feelings flourish as they bond over their shared losses and feelings of guilt, and as wildfires threaten their town. Rivers (You Are the Everything) organically pulls off the improbable premise of love conquering all; lightly speculative elements, smart attention to each minute detail, and Hattie and Presley’s convincing character arcs proffer an at once melancholy and joyful romance. Main characters read as white. Ages 12–up. Agent: Jennifer Laughran, Andrea Brown Literary.

Starred review from September 1, 2023
Grades 10-12 *Starred Review* From the acclaimed and versatile Rivers (You Are the Everything, 2018) comes this YA romance, which introduces readers to Hattie, sick over a fatal lifeguard failure, and Presley, stricken with grief and left with permanent injuries and seizures after the crash that killed his twin. When the two meet, they just might have the chance to teach each other the same lesson of forgiveness. Told in literary and lyrical prose, this stunning contemporary coming-of-age novel rings romantically and nostalgically true. Contemporary readers will enjoy the snug-fitting references to Taylor Swift and (less obviously) John and Hank Green that give the novel a real-world feel without inducing a cringe or a real threat of datedness, even for future readers. As Hattie and Presley develop individually and together, their story is reflected in Hattie's favorite (fictional) novel The Shark Club, which hits major emotional notes that render the reader moved. Heartfelt and cerebral enough to be cognitively delicious but not elitist, the prose and characterization make the overall result feel like a warm, glowing sunset. Fans of the Green brothers (especially John's Turtles All the Way Down, 2017) and Taylor Swift will, naturally, enjoy this, but so too will fans of Matthew Quick's Every Exquisite Thing (2016) and Jennifer Niven's All the Bright Places (2015).

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