Tori Spring is a disaffected teenager: She can almost never finish a film in one sitting, she's smart but can't care about school anymore, and she dislikes her friends but is unwilling to forgo their company.

This debut novel evokes a classic to present a girl searching for something true. There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head. Even secondary characters are well-rounded, with their own histories and motivations. Autumn’s coming-of-age is sensitively chronicled, with a wide range of experiences and events shaping her character. But on August 8, everything changes, and Autumn has to rely on all her strength to move on. In the summer after graduation, Autumn and Finny reconnect and are finally ready to be more than friends. Growing up, Autumn and Finny were like peas in a pod despite their differences: Autumn is “quirky and odd,” while Finny is “sweet and shy and everyone like him.” But in eighth grade, Autumn and Finny stop being friends due to an unexpected kiss. They drift apart and find new friends, but their friendship keeps asserting itself at parties, shared holiday gatherings and random encounters. The finely drawn characters capture readers’ attention in this debut.Īutumn and Phineas, nicknamed Finny, were born a week apart their mothers are still best friends. Most characters are white except for some secondary characters whose names suggest ethnic diversity Ethan is gay.Ī just-right combination of sweet and cheesy. Amid all the digital hoopla is an engaging story about family loyalty and pursuing one’s own passions. From meme wars to social media marketing, Lord accurately depicts various sides of today’s online culture. While their public slam down goes viral, Pepper and Jack anonymously confide in one another through an online messaging app called Weazel, which Jack developed himself. Unbeknownst to him, Pepper, instructed by her mother, claps back, and a battle ensues. When Big League Burger announces the release of a new menu item called “Grandma’s Special,” a sandwich that is a copy of a Campbell family classic, Jack tweets a snarky response through Girl Cheesing’s account. Classmate and funny guy Jack Campbell feels overshadowed by his gifted identical twin brother, Ethan, a feeling that grows when their father hints that he expects Jack to take over their family’s deli, Girl Cheesing, while Ethan goes on to greater things.

Though unsure of her aspirations after high school, high-achieving student Pepper Evans is sure that good grades and entrance into a top college will please her mother, co-founder of Big League Burger, one of the country’s top fast-food franchises. Romance and a Twitter war brew between two New York teens whose families run competing eateries in this fresh debut.

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