Within the standard-issue teen romance is a heartfelt, wryly perceptive account of coming to terms with irrevocable loss when life itself means inevitable change. I think the most amazing parts of these online romances are the secrecy. There is just something so fun about one person knowing who you are and the other being totally oblivious, but still falling in love that makes me all screechy and fangirlish. Don’t ask me why. I don’t know. I SAID don’t ask why! I just love ‘em. I do. Shh. I really loved Jessie. Her grief for her mother is heartbreaking and having to give up everything familiar without any thought to how it will affect her had me wanting to pull her father aside and say “really?” I loved that eventually she and her father had it out and when she said she was allowed to be angry… I seriously wanted to hug her and say yes… yes you are!

Two minutes into the book, and I already laughed, smiled like an idiot, and snorted. All I was thinking was, "Why is this book so adorable????" What age level would be appropriate? At least teenager. Some mentions of sex, drug, and drinking. Not much details on anything. The protagonist's romance is very PG.

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So the situation is this: i'm out of contemporaries. Well, not completely, but I'm really close. The thing about that is that summer just started for me, and it's warm out and I have free time, and when the above information is true I WANT TO READ A LOT OF CONTEMPORARIES. So that's the romance. And I mentioned the characters. I also loved the "tough-issue" story, how heartbreaking and inspiring the story is. Loving a parent, and then the other (to a stepmother), moving cross-country, starting over in a school filled with people that look down on you... nothing comes easy, for Jessie. I love her strength of character, and how she grows as the story continues. This book isn't so gritty and difficult to read that a non-contemporary person like me would stop reading. No, this book was beautiful and achingly sweet to read. It’s been barely two years since her mother’s death, and because her father eloped with a woman he met online, Jessie has been forced to move across the country to live with her stepmonster and her pretentious teenage son. nothing puts me in a better mood than YA contemporary. nothing. its all the fluffy feels, the comedic romantic mishaps, the easily relatable characters, and the heartfelt messages that warm my cold heart. and this book was no exception.

Through the new friends she has made and her chats with the mysterious SN Jessie makes her own way in L.A. I adored how the author gifted Jessie the one thing everyone wants which is to feel truly seen and to feel known and that’s exactly what she has with SN. The reveal of SN had me on the edge of my seat. It is predictable yet I was terrified that he wasn't who I wanted him to be. Einziger Kritikpunkt war für mich, dass das Ende mir zu schnell kam und ich gern ein wenig offenes Ende für Dri gehabt hätte.

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This book is the straight version of Simon Vs. the Homo-sapiens Agenda, and while they are very similar, it actually didn't bother me that much. I enjoyed each book for different reasons. And there they are, the first words another student has voluntarily said to me since I started at Wood Valley two weeks ago: What are you staring at? Welcome to the jungle, I think. Welcome. To. The. Jungle. So far, that’s the number one difference between LA and Chicago: all the girls here are thin and half-naked.” Whaaaaat??? Half-naked???? (This came after a description of girls in sundresses with - gasp - dare I even say it? - spaghetti straps.)