January 1, 2021
Gr 8 Up-Rising junior Emma Hansen just wants to fall in love. Sophia Kingsley wants nothing to do with it, not least because they're the only two queer girls in their grade and everyone wants them to date. When Sophia returns to New York City in June from a year in Paris, she finds Emma and her friends planning to film a bisexual romcom for the NYC-LA Film Festival. Emma and Sophia's dispute over romance causes the group to splinter in two. Of course, this doesn't stop them from living out their own real-life romcom-and not just by scheming to get their best friends together, either. This contemporary queer romance is a fun exploration of romantic comedy tropes. It does, however, fail in its perceived purpose to deconstruct them and thus leaves the characters feeling one-dimensional. Emma is bisexual (her ethnicity isn't specified) and her role as co-narrator alongside Sophia, a white lesbian, demonstrates two of the paths a queer teen's life may take. The story is interspersed with excerpts from Emma's film notes and scripts, which provide insight into the filmmaking process. VERDICT This will appeal to readers fond of light-hearted romances and titles like Tim Federle's The Great American Whatever and Ciara Smyth's The Falling in Love Montage.-Gina Elbert, Bronxville P.L., NY
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January 15, 2021
Hopeless romantic Emma butts heads with cynical Sophia over love and filmmaking. Emma and her friends enter a short film contest in the hopes of winning college scholarships. The only issue is Sophia--who, before moving away, was the only other out queer girl in their grade. She's back in town, and everyone seems to expect them to end up together. They are resistant, but the film and their mutual friend group keep dragging them together. Tensions rise, as Emma wants to make the gay rom-com of her dreams while Sophia thinks an avant-garde piece is the way to go. Emma is the quintessential romance enthusiast while Sophia has soured entirely on the concept of romantic love. The interplay between these two attitudes serves to form the bulk of the plot as the two find their ideas about love growing closer to a middle ground in tandem with their growing feelings for one another. In terms of style and plot beats, the novel reads like a rom-com film distilled into book format; it is easy to imagine these characters acting out their lives on screen. The queer romance and the narrative's determination not to shy away from discussing attitudes of entitlement distinguish this title. Emma and Sophia read as White. One to read on a rainy day when nothing but chocolate and a (mostly) lighthearted romance will do. (Romance. 14-18)
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