Love and Other Theories

Aubrey Housing and her friends begin their senior year feeling invulnerable. They’ve come up with a set of guidelines to protect themselves from getting hurt, the first being, “Don’t expect anyone to fall in love with you, because even if they do, it doesn’t matter. They’re just going to leave you.” Resolved to treat relationships with the opposite sex lightly, the girls keep their emotions in check until a new student, Nathan, shows more than a passing interest in Aubrey. The relationship between the two of them is intense from the start, and Aubrey finds it challenging to keep her cool, especially when Nathan begins flirting with her best friend. In her debut novel, Bass provides honest, incisive, and sometimes uncomfortable insights into the complicated intersections of friendship and romance, the ways sex can be wielded as a weapon, and the measures some teens take to protect themselves from pain. Readers navigating the tempestuous emotions and relationships of high school should readily connect with these characters’ hopes, sorrows, and missteps as they prepare to strike out on their own. Ages 14–up. Agent: Suzie Townsend, New Leaf Literary & Media. (Dec.)