The thrilling, agonizing muddle between middle school friendship and something "more" plays out in all its messy authenticity in G.F. Miller's appealing, painfully funny second novel.
BFFs Eve and Andrew are entering eighth grade after being apart all summer. Eve has missed Andrew. "With Andrew, she didn't have to pretend at all." But suddenly Andrew is "taller and stronger and deeper-talking." And something else: "From this moment on, Eve thought, time will be measured before and after armpit hair." For his part, Andrew has always loved how Eve makes him laugh but now he's noticing that she's also "really pretty." School is different, too. Last year kids talked about "video games and LEGOs"; this year it's all about who likes whom. When Eve and Andrew's friend groups start throwing them together in text threads ("OMG YOU GUYS ARE ADORBS!!!!!") and creating couple names ("Andreve!" and "Evedrew!"), the two give in to the pressure and start "dating." But do they like like each other or just like each other?
Miller (Glimpsed) places her characters in realistically confusing circumstances that create faithfully pubescent, over-the-top responses. Readers will likely laugh and cringe in recognition of this particular brand of awkwardness. The pair digs themselves deeper into their respective holes of mutual torment as they each try to get the other to break up with them. Peer pressure, hormones, mixed feelings, gasp-worthy pranks: Not If You Break Up with Me First has it all. As Andrew says, "Feelings are weird." --Emilie Coulter, freelance writer and editor