How to Make Out

July 15, 2016
To make money, Renley will discover who she truly is.For the self-centered Renley, the math-club trip to New York City isn't just a trip with her friend April--it will let her reconnect with the mother who abandoned her after her father's affair. But Renley doesn't have the money for the trip, until she gets the idea to start an advice blog and charge readers for her responses. But to get the big money, she has to answer questions like how to make out, how to recover from a hangover, and more. Helping her is her friend Drew, "who can't keep it in his pants." He says he loves her, but Renley selfishly refuses to believe him even as she uses him--because she won't take the risk of losing him as a friend. Muddying the waters is Seth, the cooking savant Renley is crushing on. Renley starts dating Seth and becomes part of the popular crowd--but as she changes, she loses not just April and Drew, but herself, too. Renley is less a well-rounded character and more a collection of abrasive flaws that provoke little sympathy in readers. While she becomes slightly more likable by the end of the novel, it's uncertain if readers would put up with Renley until that point. Renley, April, Drew, and Seth all appear to be white. An unlikable character in a predictable romantic predicament makes for a miss. (Fiction. 14-18)

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October 1, 2016

Gr 9 Up-This laugh-out-loud coming-of- age novel engages readers immediately and never lets go. Renley's best friend April and her neighbor Drew provide the protagonist with support as she decides to run a paid blog to raise money for a math club trip to New York. As Renley survives cooking class (she prefers classrooms she cannot set on fire and would rather be solving for x), she comes up with answers to common questions she finds on Google. Soon her anonymous blog is a bigger hit than she ever imagined, but there are some questions she finds that she will never answer. How far will she go to uncover answers to some of the other questions? This book distinguishes itself with peripheral characters who are also well-developed and support Renley and the fast-paced plot. Shrum addresses many bildungsroman issues throughout the narrative in a believable and interesting way and still manages to pull off a thought-provoking story that will let young adults understand and relate to Renley's many crises and how she comes to handle them. VERDICT Readers of Carrie Jones's Tips on Having a Gay (Ex) Boyfriend will love this.-Cathleen Ash, Manor High School, TX

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