Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Aubrey Housing and her friends begin their senior year feeling invulnerable. They've come up with a set of guidelines to protect themselves from getting hurt, the first being, "Don't expect anyone to fall in love with you, because even if they do, it doesn't matter. They're just going to leave you." Resolved to treat relationships with the opposite sex lightly, the girls keep their emotions in check until a new student, Nathan, shows more than a passing interest in Aubrey. The relationship between the two of them is intense from the start, and Aubrey finds it challenging to keep her cool, especially when Nathan begins flirting with her best friend. In her debut novel, Bass provides honest, incisive, and sometimes uncomfortable insights into the complicated intersections of friendship and romance, the ways sex can be wielded as a weapon, and the measures some teens take to protect themselves from pain. Readers navigating the tempestuous emotions and relationships of high school should readily connect with these characters' hopes, sorrows, and missteps as they prepare to strike out on their own. Ages 14-up. Agent: Suzie Townsend, New Leaf Literary & Media. (Dec.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 9 Up-High school relationships aren't meant to last forever. So says Aubrey Housing and her three closest friends: Melissa, Danica, and ringleader Shelby. They've navigated high school living by their "girl code," which doesn't allow for relationships, jealousy, or hurt. When they are done with a guy, they move on, sometimes employing an "exit strategy" should he get too clingy. Any girl who doesn't live by these theories, like ex-friend Chiffon, is to be ridiculed and belittled or pitied. But when Nathan Diggs shows up in Aubrey's senior drama class, it sets into motion a chain of events that causes Aubrey to question why she was living by the code in the first place. She might just be falling in love and trying her hardest not to be. And when other girls, even Shelby, move in on Nathan, Aubrey finds it hard not to become the jealous girlfriend she's sworn she'd never be. While this is written in a style similar to Deb Caletti or Sarah Dessen, there's a little too much introspection. Also, the story feels far too long, which drags down the action. Plenty of drinking, sex, and profanity are met with a moral in the end, but it's too late to save the relationship, and the ending seems forced.-Kelly Jo Lasher, Middle Township High School, Cape May Court House, NJ (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Aubrey and her friends have many rules about treating high school relationships casually, including advocating sex without commitment or expectation. But when Aubrey falls for new guy Nathan, the rules become difficult. This surprisingly deep look at the complicated dynamics of love and friendship doesn't shy away from flawed characters, questionable choices, or untidy endings. (c) Copyright 2015. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A system for avoiding heartbreak falls apart in an unexpectedly insightful tale of friendship and loyalty. Aubrey's friends spend their weekends making out with boys at parties, drinking Slurpees mixed with vodka, and hurling insults at their ex-friend, Chiffon. Now that Aubrey has gotten into her dream school and eased off her work schedule, she can join them. Just before the start of their junior year, Shelby, the de facto group leader, developed the titular theories. High school boys, according to the theories, are incapable of commitment, so girls should enjoy sex and never expect anything afterward. But when good-looking outsider Nathan Diggs shows up in Aubrey's drama class, and Nathan and Aubrey quickly become inseparable, Aubrey is tempted to forget that she's become "evolved." What looks poised to be a romantic comedy (girl meets boy; theories fail; love triumphs) turns into something far more complex and bittersweet. Each character's life is carefully imagined, from Chiffon, the target of the girls' ridicule, to Shelby herself, whose carefree armor slowly begins to crack. The bullying is never forgiven. The lovers, once estranged, are never entirely reunited. The theories are indeed debunked, but what is left in their place is a kind of vulnerability and regret that can't be summed up in a romantic platitude. Careful, subtle and aching. (Fiction. 14-18) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
