Saine is a high school senior focused on creating a documentary worthy of admission to a competitive film program at Temple University. When her original plan falls through, former-best-friend-and-crush Holden allows her to use his entry into a live action video game contest as her subject material, though he is cagey regarding his reason for entering. Saine assumes he is doing it just to win the prize, a coveted VR headset prototype. Sure that this won’t be compelling enough for Temple, she reframes his story without telling him, into a drama about financial woes that don’t really exist—with fingers crossed that he will never ask to see it.

This novel is a thoughtful and enjoyable YA rom-com that tackles some big topics with a light but intentional hand. The main storyline focuses on Saine’s creation of the documentary, and her decision to create a compelling drama about the people involved, rather than to simply tell their story. When this comes to light she is accused – and understands – that her single-minded pursuit of this one dream has caused her to make a series of selfish decisions, which has negatively impacted each of her relationships in different ways. With overlapping subplots that deal with grief, family and friendship changes, self-belief, and mental health, the novel manages to check a lot of boxes. Supporting cast is diverse in sexuality and (more subtly) race and gender, and characters feel realistically flawed, including most of all Saine who finally comes to the realization that while she has risked all of her relationships in her pursuit of her dream, it is also within her to fix the damage she has done.

I’d suggest this for YA collections 14+. There is one scene with a sexual encounter that is pressured but ultimately presented as consensual, though Saine refers to her “self-loathing” the morning after. Fans of Julie Murphy’s Dumplin’ or Lyla Lee’s I’ll be the One will enjoy this book.

Reviewed by Jenny Martinez Nocito, Maine State Library