Two young women from very different backgrounds fall for each other in this heartfelt and thoughtful YA contemporary romance.
Track champion Morgan is forced to transfer high schools mid-senior year for violating her Catholic private school's code of conduct. She vows she'll be a "new me... out and proud," but doesn't anticipate falling for Ruby, a closeted bisexual classmate who very nearly hits Morgan with her car on the first day of school. Ruby competes in beauty pageants to please her controlling mother, but Ruby's true passion is fixing cars, including "my soul, my lifeline: my baby-blue 1970 Ford Torino." Ruby maintains a tough exterior and initially antagonizes Morgan, worried that being seen as queer will impact her pageant career: "crowning a queer beauty queen will never be in the cards." Morgan, however, has no intention of being closeted again. The couple must decide if their feelings for one another are worth the risk.
Morgan and Ruby are flawed yet sympathetic characters with strong personalities who clash at first, making for an entertaining enemies-to-lovers romance. Jennifer Dugan (Hotdog Girl) uses the young women's romance also to touch on class commentary: both girls are white, but Morgan's family is comfortably upper-middle class, while Ruby and her mother live in a trailer park and are accustomed to feeling "less than" because of their socioeconomic status. Dugan thoughtfully depicts two disparate teenage experiences, reminding readers that there is no right or wrong way to be queer. As Morgan and Ruby inspire each other to accept themselves, Dugan urges young LGBTQ+ readers "to embrace it. To be proud." --Alanna Felton, freelance reviewer