How Not to Fall in Love

Gr 9 Up–Even though it’s the summer before senior year of high school, Harper’s a workaholic. She helps her mom, a creative wedding dress designer who is not good with numbers, keep the business afloat, to the detriment of her social life. Harper also harbors cynicism about romance after fitting dresses for too many finicky brides and after her first foray into love ended in heartbreak. Her best friend and next door neighbor, Theo, is the opposite: he’s a hopeless romantic, fencer, accordion-player, and rom-com connoisseur. When his last crush deflates him, Harper decides to teach Theo how to date casually, without falling in love. In turn, Theo insists Harper go out on a date with her from-afar crush Felix to prove she can do it without falling. But once Felix and Harper begin to date, she can’t commit—and finds it’s not because of her cynical tendencies. With a fairly easy-to-figure-out romance plot, the novel takes time to gain momentum, but ultimately, it satisfies. Firkins knows how to write swoon-worthy make-out scenes, and her characters are well-developed and full of humor. As the novel evolves, Harper becomes a more interesting protagonist, reinforced by the superbly drawn Theo, quirky coworker Pippa, and her supportive mom. All of the main characters present as white. While the book will appeal to a range of teens, it does contain some steamy moments and the use of a dating app by Harper to find Theo a casual date. Also, the references to Don Quixote in Theo’s character will likely be missed by young adult readers.