IT'S NOT ME, IT'S YOU

A young woman revisits her many ex-boyfriends through interviews with her friends and acquaintances in this comedic romance.

After she’s dumped by her current boyfriend just days before prom, 17-year-old blonde, white Avery subverts an assignment at San Anselmo Prep on oral histories in order to retrace the map of her love life from middle school on. Told entirely in the form of interviews with others and including editorial interjections by Avery, this novel details each of her previous romantic relationships, some of which were more complicated than others. The playful, often teasing tone employed by many of the interviewees can be quite funny. Perspectives on Avery vary. Her supportive best friend, Coco, who is Korean-American, and Hutch, her cute and nerdy lab partner, who is black (and likes to think he resembles "a young Neil deGrasse Tyson") like her more than others—such as Bizzy Stanhope, Avery's rival, who is described throughout as "officially the worst." Readers looking for a light-as-air romance and who don't mind the predictability of the outcome will enjoy the humor and the sprawling cultural references, from Chris Evans to Sweet Valley High to Audrey Hepburn and the Kennedys.

Formulaic in plot if not in format, this should fit the bill for readers looking for total escape on a weekend afternoon