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A Long Island teen faces a tumultuous year.

In this stand-alone graphic novel, Esther “Essie” Rosen begins her senior year of high school with everything going for her: She’s dating handsome neighbor boy Bruno and is preparing her audition for the Tisch School of the Arts, which she hopes will lead to her dream of living in New York City near her best friend, who’s attending Columbia. But after her English teacher assigns a journal project spanning the full school year, Essie’s entries lead to a realization that her seemingly perfect life may be a carefully constructed facade. As events fail to unfold as planned, Essie must forge a new path for herself—even if it means defying her family’s and her own expectations when she falls for Christopher, a boy with a complicated link to her brother, whose difficulties challenge their mother’s insistence that “everything has to be perfect.” With its visceral, palpable angst, Miller’s tale will resonate with readers who have been at a crossroads. Beem’s dreamy blue-hued illustrations with watercolor flourishes are both alluring and stylish, bringing a decidedly cinematic feel. While the story contains elements of romance, it eschews a simple happily-ever-after resolution, and Essie’s final choices will stay with readers long after the final page is turned. Essie, who’s fat, is Jewish and presents white, Bruno reads Black, and Christopher is Chinese American.

Raw and relevant; a book that belongs in the hands of any reader anxious about a new chapter.