There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head.ĭarius Kellner suffers from depression, bullying by high school jocks, and a father who seems to always be disappointed in him. 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. Ambitious and thought-provoking, if flawed. Secondary characters are, unfortunately, not as well developed-both Wendy’s dad and Hakiam’s cousin are caricatures with whom readers will not be able to empathize. The chemistry between the pair comes about abruptly, but the strength of this story lies in the dynamic between Wendy and Hakiam and in his experiences with her friends. Predictably, the two initially clash but quickly move past their sparring and become intrigued with one another, to the chagrin of both their families. Newly arrived in the city, he’s just the sort of boy her dad fears-he spent his adolescence being shuffled through foster homes and now lives with his cousin and her premature, newborn baby.

Wendy responds to his blatant stereotyping by becoming a tutor in just such a community, where she meets Hakiam. Seventeen-year-old Wendy has been raised in a white suburb of Philadelphia by her overprotective father, who fears her exposure to the poor black neighborhoods he left behind. The politics of ethnicity and class are heavily at play in this work of romantic fiction.

Tutored by allison whittenberg