HELLO (FROM HERE)

Two teens get romantic in March 2020.

Maxine and Jonah first meet bumping into each other in the grocery store just as the world is starting to come to an end. It’s early 2020, and California’s going into lockdown to stop the spread of Covid-19. Jonah’s been an anxious mess even before the deadly virus hit American shores, and Maxine (or as she prefers, Max) has been barely hanging on with a part-time gig buying other people’s groceries. The pair strike up some witty repartee over toilet paper that tips into full-on flirtation, eventually pushing them into the unlucky task of starting a relationship just as everyone’s trying to keep away from one another. As the two teens Zoom and text their way through the pandemic, class differences, mental health issues, and good old-fashioned melodrama rear their heads. The romance is sweet, and the novelty of the pandemic’s early days is effectively rendered, but readers’ mileage may vary when it comes to reliving the anxious second quarter of 2020. The authors never push the virus element too hard, smartly centering Max and Jonah’s relationship as a fairly typical getting-to-know-you courtship with a handful more speed bumps. The end result is a quiet exploration of two teens going through some heady times, the sort of read that will be appreciated, if not now, then in a year or two. Max and Jonah are presumed White.

A gentle romance set against a bummer of a backdrop.