Jason’s three-boy grunge band and their high hopes for fame form the backdrop of Hartje’s debut, making this edgy romance a paradise for music fans. Musical references pop throughout, from the newly discovered Stone Temple Pilots to Guns N’ Roses tracks buoying up a party scene awash with sexual tension and coke lines. There’s an unpretentious innocence to the plot and dialogue that aptly mirrors a teenager’s way of thinking, periodically scattered with idiosyncratic outbursts that are all part of growing up. Hartje bounces the narrative between Jason and his mother, Leah, a jarring change initially, but one that soon makes sense, as readers glimpse how a concerned mother sees things very differently from her troubled 17-year-old.

Though they feel suitable within the storyline, Jason’s preoccupations with the opposite sex have a juvenile slant, particularly his fixation on any teenage girl who strolls into his vicinity. As he sharpens his guitar skills—and branches into some seriously rad songwriting—he slowly comes into his own, gaining confidence in his band’s sound while yearning for the superficial markers of ‘90s adulthood—like his ultimate wish for just “one night with Betsy in some high-rise hotel, sexing up the sheets, eating room service hot dogs, and falling asleep to VH1.”

Takeaway: Edgy ‘90s romance that blossoms amid the grunge rock scene.

Comparable Titles: Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Patti Smith’s Just Kids.

Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A-