There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head.Īfter surviving a suicide attempt, a fragile teen isn't sure she can endure without cutting herself. 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. Bennett creates an authentically multicultural ensemble, from Bailey’s Nigerian-by-way-of-London new bestie, Grace, to her dad’s Mexican-American girlfriend and Porter’s references to Hawaiian cultural beliefs.Īn irresistible tribute to classic screwball-comedy romances that captures the “delicious whirling, twirling, buzzing” of falling in love. There’s definitely a The Shop Around the Corner buildup to the romantic chemistry, but in addition to their charming banter and online-quiz exchanges, Bailey and Porter also tackle substantive issues such as anxiety, PTSD, drug abuse, cheating, and sexual experience. As she futilely attempts to find Alex via chat-transcript clues, readers will figure out his identity long before she does.

Porter, who’s Hapa (half Polynesian/Chinese, half white), has a unique way of exasperating Bailey.

Her first day working at a mansion-cum-museum, introverted Bailey, a white girl who sports platinum-blonde Lana Turner pin curls, meets Porter Roth, a “ridiculously good-looking” but cocky 18-year-old security guard from a legendary local surfing family.

The one perk of moving is that “Alex,” her favorite chat-mate on a classic-film fan forum, lives there too, and she plans to surprise him-not that they know one another’s real names (she goes by “Mink” online).

to her father’s small beach town on the Central California coast. The summer before senior year, 17-year-old Bailey Rydell moves from D.C. A movie-obsessed teen moves to her dad’s beach town and unexpectedly falls for an edgy surfer rather than the “film-buff soul mate” she was expecting to meet.

Serious Moonlight by Jenn Bennett