From the bestselling author of I Wish You All the Best, comes a new kind of love story, about the bad decisions we sometimes make… and the people who help get us back on the right path. Perfect for fans of Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston and What If It’s Us by Adam Silvera and Becky Albertalli.
THE FEELING OF FALLING IN LOVE
by Mason Deaver
Push/Scholastic, August 2022
(via Dystel, Goderich & Bourret)
Just days before spring break, Neil Kearney is set to fly across the country with his childhood friend (and current friend-with-benefits) Josh, to attend his brother’s wedding―until Josh tells Neil that he’s in love with him and Neil doesn’t return the sentiment.
With Josh still attending the wedding, Neil needs to find a new date to bring along. And, almost against his will, roommate Wyatt is drafted.
At first, Wyatt (correctly) thinks Neil is acting like a jerk. But when they get to LA, Wyatt sees a little more of where it’s coming from. Slowly, Neil and Wyatt begin to understand one another… and maybe, just maybe, fall in love for the first time…
Born and raised in a small North Carolina town, Mason Deaver is an award-winning and best selling author of books like I Wish You All the Best, which was named an NPR Concierge Pick and picked to be a Junior Library Guild selection; and their most recent novel The Ghosts We Keep. On the rare occasion they aren’t writing, they usually fill their time by watching horror movies, or worsening their bad posture by playing too many video games.
Brooke likes order, she likes lists, she likes rules. The first and only rule of her new sharehouse is ‘no unnecessary drama’. Which means no fights, no tension, and absolutely no romance with housemates Penny and Jesse. That’s fine by Brooke, because she has plans. This is going to be her year: her first year of university, the year she’s moved to Melbourne, and the year she’s going to live up to all of her potential. But things get off to a bad start: university isn’t what she thought it would be; she’s desperately homesick, chronically anxious and, to add to her problems, Brooke might be developing inconvenient romantic feelings for off-limits housemate Jesse.
Patch feels out of place at Mountford College: she wears the wrong clothes, she’s on a scholarship, and she has an embarrassingly persistent crush on Evie Vanhoutte, popular girl and golden child. Evie has no idea Patch exists until one day, a chance encounter sparks a friendship that’s equal parts exhilarating, terrifying, and very, very confusing.
Navigating junior year, Michie is struggling to answer the question of who she is for her scholarship essays, the only chance she has at making it into Brown as a first-generation college student. Or maybe it’s not so much that Michie doesn’t know who she is as it is that she doesn’t like who she is: having been estranged from her mother from the age of five and surrendered to her grandmother, Michie has made an art of hiding, especially from herself. After all, if her own mother doesn’t think she’s worthy of love, who will?
James and Michelle find themselves in the Atlanta airport on a layover. They couldn’t be more different, but seemingly interminable delays draw them both to a mysterious flashing green light—and each other.