Keep My Heart in San Francisco

Gr 9 Up–Caroline “Chuck” Wilson loves her life in San Francisco and plans on staying there after high school. During spring break, she’s touring the fashion school of her dreams and hitting up estate sales to find vintage clothes. When she discovers that her father’s business, Bigmouth Bowl, is going to close, forcing the family to move to Arizona, Chuck hustles to raise funds. Enter Beckett Porter, Chuck’s attractive ex-best friend, who introduces her to the world of bowling, betting, and hustling. With Beckett’s gambling connections and Chuck’s bowling skills, they can raise money fast—if they can keep things strictly professional. Coombs’s debut features realistically flawed teen characters addressing complex issues, including mental health, family poverty, parental abandonment, and suicide. The teen romance is sweet and charming, but the real love story is between Chuck and San Francisco as Coombs beautifully captures the atmosphere of the city from the perspective of a besotted resident. The main plot is simplistic and at a couple of junctures, implausible, but the characters are multifaceted and the setting is rich.