In this dynamic, touching, and authentic novel about the complexities of crushes, two former friends navigate the breakup of their friend group--the "Fearsome Foursome"--even as they unwittingly develop crushes on each other on an anonymous online school forum.
"Magic Mel" Miller is a "peppy and hopeful" eighth grade soccer captain with a frequently half-untucked jersey and a "messy blond ponytail." Tory McNally, with shiny brown hair and an always neatly steamed soccer uniform, wants "life to be organized. Predictable. Right." Mel and Tory were part of an inseparable quarte until last year, when Tory called Mel the "biggest disaster in school." In the wake of the friend breakup, the girls struggle to locate their own identities within new friendships. Tory wonders "what it would feel like, to just be yourself around your friends," and Mel asks herself what one should do "if you know that your best friend might be a bad best friend." At the same time, both girls have been communicating with a "secret online pen pal" through their school message board. Each develops feelings for this anonymous person with whom they feel they can be their truest selves.
Debut author Erin Becker skillfully takes on the middle-school tensions that arise when families, friends, sports teams, and love interests seemingly conspire to undermine us. Using Mel and Tory as dual narrators gives readers each girls' limited perspective, showing the truth of the individual despite what the girls believe about each other. Becker has convincingly captured the all-over-the-map feelings of middle-school relationships and created characters who are complex, sincere humans. --Emilie Coulter, freelance writer and editor