About This Book:
Two friends who have unhappily found themselves in an accidental relationship try to drive the other one to call things off in this tongue-in-cheek middle grade romance.
Childhood friends Eve and Andrew are destined to be together—everyone says so, especially their friends and classmates who are all suddenly crush-obsessed. So when Eve and Andrew’s first eighth grade school dance rolls around and Eve, feeling the pressure, awkwardly asks Andrew to go with her, everyone assumes they are Officially Dating and Practically in Love. Overwhelmed, Eve and Andrew just…go with it.
And it’s weird. Neither of them wants this dating thing to mess up their friendship, and they don’t really see each other that way. But they also don’t want to be the one to call things off, the one to make things super awkward. So they both—separately—pledge to be the worst boyfriend or girlfriend ever, leaving it to the other person to break up with them. It would be genius…if the other person weren’t doing the exact same thing.
*Review Contributed By Karen Yingling, Staff Reviewer*
Funny and heartfelt middle school “romance”
The way that the struggle of Eve’s parents affects her, and the way that Andrew’s mother deals with it, is quite well done. It’s great that when they see how much it is affecting Eve, decide to go to counseling. The way this mirrors the troubles that Eve and Andrew are having because of lack of communication is an important lesson in how relationships need work, no matter what one’s age, or the duration of the relationship. Instead of killing off most of the parents, I really with that middle grade literature would explore how troubled family dynamics affect tweens every day lives.
It was sweet to see how much Eve and Andrew cared about each other, and how they felt bad about annoying each other, but felt it was for the best. Madison was an intriguing character, and it was great when she tells Eve she would love to be friends with her. I loved that while Holden was a complete jerk, his friends didn’t let him get away with being that way for long. There’s definitely jerkiness out there. Middle school has so many confusing emotions, and they are laid painfully bare on the pages of this book. Eve’s relationship with Andrew’s hoodie almost deserves a book to itself!
Another reviewer mentioned that this book was very heteronormative, and while I can see this, there is a fantastic moment when Madison is approached about her interest in Andrew (or lack thereof). One of the girls says something to the effect of “Or are you ace or aro? It’s okay if you are.” Madison has a fantastic response, saying that she is 13, and she just wants to be able to figure herself out without having labels placed on her. The simplest explanation is that Eve and Andrew’s friend group is mainly heteronormative. I’ve seen in middle school that friend groups not only fall along gender lines, but identity lines as well. Even five years ago, students were much more heteronormative and are, in general, straighter than recent middle grade literature would have us believe. Could some LGBTQIA+ characters have been included? Absolutely. But was it realistic to not include them in this story that focused its lens on Eve and Andrew and their small circle of friends so closely? Also absolutely.
I loved this one SO MUCH. At its heart, it was such a sweet romance, with so many clever, funny lines. It had me alternating between snorting out loud and wiping tears from my eyes. I wanted to have a copy in my hand right now to give to my students, and might have mentioned it to patrons who were checking out Richards’ Stu Truly or Acampora’s Danny Constantino’s First Date, two titles that are never on the shelf. This is the best middle grade romance since Heldring’s The Football Girl.
