A Tale of Two Besties

April 27, 2015
This debut YA novel by Rossi, a cofounder of online community HelloGiggles.com (along with actress Zooey Deschanel, who contributes a foreword), examines a friendship in flux. Told from the alternating perspectives of and text messages between best friends Lily and Harper, the story follows these independent-thinking girls' separate high-school journeys. With encouragement from Harper and a pair of fairy wings that she has worn with her outfits since elementary school, "gawkward" Lily learned early on that "being different could be a power instead of a curse." When Lily enters an alternative private high school that champions individuality and is swept into a cultish club, its leader hijacks Lily's trademark look and makes wings a mandatory accessory for members. While a confused yet flattered Lily basks in her newfound popularity, typically confident Harper struggles socially in her public school and feels abandoned by Lily. Though the dialed-up theatrics and fanatical club protocol stretch believability, Rossi has a handle on teen voices and emotions, and offers a distinctive take on personal integrity, conformity, stereotyping, peer pressure, bullying, and loyalty. Ages 12âup.

March 15, 2015
Separated by new high schools, two best friends dive into unfriendly social waters without each other as safety nets.Ever since fourth grade, Lily and Harper have been best friends. Blonde and popular, Harper adopts awkward, fairy-wing-wearing Lily as a friend, and the two become instantly inseparable. At 13, they face a harrowing prospect: entering their freshman year at different high schools. They make a pact to never change who they are and what they mean to one another, no matter what happens. While Harper continues public school at Beverly High, Lily moves on to Pathways Academy, a private school known for nurturing individuality. In a twist pulled from teen movies, Harper flounders and can't find her social footing, while Lily becomes an instant star at Pathways, setting a fairy-wing trend blazing through the hallways and the blogosphere. As the girls swiftly change, can their friendship survive separation? The tale is weighed down by a barrage of pop-culture references-Rossi is a co-founder of the Internet community HelloGiggles along with Zooey Deschanel, who contributes an introduction-and it's difficult to get a feel for who Lily and Harper really are, even as they ponder it themselves. Though there are requisite trials with bullies and boys, the spotlight on the girls' friendship sustains an otherwise cliched dramedy. A fluffy romp in familiar territory. (Fiction. 12-14)

April 1, 2015

Gr 7-10-The satisfactory story of two besties charts the emotional ups and downs of freshman year of high school, with a heavy-handed dose of consumer label name dropping. Together since fourth grade, Lily and Harper are BFFs who begin their freshman year in different schools. Lily has always been the outsider and Harper the popular one. When the year begins, their roles are reversed and each has difficulty navigating their changed status. Always unique, Lily wears fairy wings and marches to the beat of her own drum. At her new creative school, she immediately hits it off with the in-crowd, becoming a fashion trendsetter. Harper, usually the quintessential popular California girl, starts off her freshman year with detention and soon after becomes the star of an embarrassing viral video. At a time when the two girls need each other the most, they just can't connect. There are touching moments, and the dialogue feels genuine. However, secondary characters, with the notable exception of Lily's former and Harper's current love interest Tim, seem mostly two-dimensional, created to represent an archetype. Only the two best friends are fully formed. This creates a problem because the bulk of the action takes place when the two main characters are separated. As in most light friendship stories, the friends are somewhat unrealistically reunited in the end. VERDICT A serviceable novel that will appeal to young teens looking for a light and frothy friendship tale.-Cindy Wall, Southington Library & Museum, CT

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.