By Your Side

December 5, 2016
After two high school students get locked in the local library over a three-day weekend, they end up sharing intimate details of their lives with each other, even though Autumn is well aware that Dax’s “reputation wasn’t exactly stellar,” and he thinks she is a “naïve, spoiled priss.” When Autumn emerges, she finds her life in chaos: her family and classmates thought that she had been in a car accident involving her friends. As Autumn copes with the consequences of the weekend, she turns to Dax, a lonely foster kid, for distraction and comfort. West (P.S. I Like You) offers a largely formulaic story of a golden girl falling for a bad boy, from the initial accident that throws the unlikely pair together to the path their relationship takes and its effect on Autumn’s friendships. Fans of opposites-attract romances, though, should enjoy watching Autumn and Dax find each other, even as the two teens pushback against a host of judgments, expectations, and assumptions. Ages 13–up. Agent: Michelle Wolfson, Wolfson Literary.

November 15, 2016
After a weekend trapped in a library together, two teens from different social stratospheres are drawn to one another. All Autumn, a white senior, wanted to do was go to the bathroom. She had been studying with her friends in the library before it closed, excited to go build a campfire in the canyon. Instead, she finds herself locked in the library, her friends gone and her phone with them. But she's not alone: Dax, a white loner with a bad reputation, has purposely stayed behind, unaware of her presence. It's a three-day weekend, and the two while the hours away with games and standoffs, each wary of trusting the other. As Autumn warms to Dax, he remains distant, and her friends never show up. When the reason for their absence is revealed and Autumn's anxiety disorder spirals, it's Dax who saves the day. Afterward, however, Dax pretends they're strangers, and Autumn's friends have expectations for who she should be with, and it sure isn't Dax. The feeling of calm that Dax brought out in Autumn pulls her to him anyway, and soon she must decide what she really wants. Though quite slow to start, Autumn and Dax's relationship burns brightly. Autumn's struggles with anxiety are equally dynamic. If only the rest of her life--her friends and other love interest--were equally engaging. A simmering romance that gives weight to mental health and hard choices. (Fiction. 13-18)

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April 1, 2017

Gr 7 Up-Finding themselves unexpectedly locked in the library together for a long weekend, two seemingly dissimilar teens bond. Autumn takes photographs for the yearbook, belongs to the "in" crowd, and has a budding flirtation with the fun-loving and popular Jeff. Rumors abound about bad boy Dax, who has spent time at a juvenile detention center, been raised in foster homes, and doesn't seem to care what other people think about him. Unable to communicate with the outside world and surviving on PayDay bars, Autumn opens up to Dax in a way she never has with her friends; she tells him about her anxiety disorder. Upon liberation from the library, Autumn faces her true feelings for Jeff, deals with guilt as he recovers from a dreadful car accident, and increasingly wishes that her friends knew the real reason she often flees group gatherings. She and Dax act not just as "distractions" for each other but also as supporters, pushing each other to confront fears. Going beyond a light tale of teen love, the story delves deeper by weaving in themes of the foster care system, absent parents, and mental illness. Although the start is a bit contrived, West's multidimensional protagonists experience growth as their romance evolves. The snippets of kissing at the end ring true to the book's wholesome nature. VERDICT Real-life issues enhance this engaging novel, which will appeal to fans of Sarah Dessen. A good choice for realistic fiction shelves.-Kate Reid, The Allen-Stevenson School, New York

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 15, 2016
Grades 8-11 One quick trip to the library bathroom at closing time later, and Autumn finds herself locked in a building closed down for the weekend, right before she is supposed to take off with friends for an overnighter ( I was locked in the library, trying not to panic. Literally locked. As in no escape ). Her backpackand cell phoneis already in the car. It's cold. It's scary. And she's not alone. A mysterious loner from school, Dax Miller, is also locked in, although he planned it that way to escape his abusive foster family. Readers might be skeptical of Autumn's inability to contact the outside world, but that would take away the more compelling Breakfast Club backdrop of this evolving romance. When a shocking explanation reveals why Autumn's friends, and even her parents, do not come back to find her, this engaging story takes off. West skillfully zeroes in on peer pressure, a complex labyrinth of friendships, and Autumn's anxiety issues and conflicted feelings about boyfriends in a realistic and insightful way.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)