Amelia Diane Coombs's fourth contemporary YA romance portrays with precision the exhilaration of a close friendship budding into first love.
High school senior Eloise Deane needs extracurricular hours to perfect her application for the University of Southern California, her dream university. She begrudgingly volunteers at LifeCare, a nonprofit dedicated to reducing loneliness in the elderly, but worries her anxiety disorder will interfere ("When it comes to social situations, I'm a Human Disaster"). Her assigned partner, Austin Yang, is her opposite: a "walking, talking sunshine emoji" with "golden retriever energy." But their charge, 73-year-old Marianne Landis, former lead singer of the Laundromats, a popular band active in the '70s and '80s, instantly disarms Eloise ("Why don't you remove the stick from your ass and take a seat? I'm making tea"). Together with Austin, Eloise bats back Marianne's snark and helps organize her memorabilia... which spills into the teens getting tacos and playing Eloise's favorite MMORPG together. Eloise wonders if Austin pities her--she is "awesome at being a loner" and convinced he will ditch her like her former friends did if she experiences another depressive episode. Still, being with Austin becomes effortless. She misses him when separated for mere hours, accidental touches feel magnified, her insides hum to think of him, and seeing him with his ex-girlfriend induces nausea. "I have feelings for Austin," she realizes. "And I'm freaking out."
Coombs (Exactly Where You Need to Be) beautifully encapsulates the transformation of a friendship into something more in All Alone with You, highlighting especially the behind-the-scenes effort that teens put into elevating such relationships. Austin pays double for a custom shirt to tease Eloise and keeps an "Embarrassing Eloise Album" of photos on his phone; Eloise bookmarks a website of cities to rename Austin in lieu of his Texan one (calling him Memphis, Boston, Eugene) and brings him soup when he is sick. Their amusing conversations overflow with irresistible banter: "What's that on your face?" "Probably guacamole." "Yeah, that's not guac... that's a smile."
Coombs, by keeping the book in Eloise's point of view, simultaneously demonstrates how social anxiety can prevent fully embracing or believing the affections of another person. "Social anxiety is assuming everyone hates you," Eloise narrates, aware she pushes people away. Marianne's unfiltered character adds remarkable charm, her burns, sarcasm, and advice a hugely satisfying boon to the story. Additionally, each chapter begins with a fictional song lyric, always fitting and at times soul-crushing. An unendingly fun love story. --Samantha Zaboski, freelance editor and reviewer
Shelf Talker: A teen with depression and anxiety accustomed to being alone forges bonds with a sunny peer volunteer and a cantankerous septuagenarian in this hilarious, banter-filled contemporary YA love story.