[I received an electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Henry Holt and Co. in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]
Summary
Nina is in her last semester of high school. Her mom is newly engaged. And she’s partnered with Jamie, the last person she wanted in her group for her broadcasting class.
The early weeks of their show are rocky. Jamie is choosing the music for their 90s shows. Sasha works on publicity. Joydeep is their on-air host, and Nina is the producer.
The problems are hard to miss. Their host is wooden on air, they’ve had technical difficulties, and they’ve accidentally broadcast some language and conversations that should NOT have been aired.
To salvage their show, they decide to hint at a secret guest coming to the show. Nina’s dad, a radio personality, would be ideal to speak not only on the air but also to their class. They run into a few problems, though, when their listeners start making their own assumptions about the secret guest, and when Nina is reluctant to even ask her dad to come.
Review
There were several parts of this that I loved. There are some great laugh-out-loud moments. And I loved the game of pretend Nina and her sisters played with Jamie when they were kids. The climax of the radio show plot thread was fantastic!
But getting to those great moments took a lot of work for me as a reader. The development of the romance was slow, especially the reveal of the original fracture between Nina and Jamie. The story meandered a bit through their awkwardness and her mom’s engagement, and some of the radio things. I prefer stories with clear motives and goals from the outset. This story is more subtle than that.
Readers who enjoy a slower unfolding of the story – the pieces are all there, but you have to wait awhile to put them all together for the big picture – should check this out. And the big moment with the secret interview was the main thing that made the journey worthwhile for me. (Language)