cover image Just Like the Movies

Just Like the Movies

Kelly Fiore. Bloomsbury, $17.99 (288p) ISBN 978-1-61963-354-4

Marijke and Lily don’t have a lot in common. Pretty, popular Marjke is a star athlete whose boyfriend has a band; Lily’s a textbook overachiever and nerd (and she’s single). But when they meet cute at a screening of Titanic, a friendship is born—both girls are frustrated with their current romantic situations. Lily may have a crush on the unattainable Joe Lombardi, but Marijke’s boyfriend is a cavalier flirt who can’t say, “I love you.” And so is born an idea, that, as they say in the movies, “might be just crazy enough to work.” To get the love they want, Lily and Marijke recreate moments from the rom-coms they’ve watched over and over—which is how Marijke ends up on Tommy’s lawn in the middle of the night, blasting Peter Gabriel à la John Cusack in Say Anything. Watching these two high school seniors help each other move out of their respective safety zones is a lot of fun, and Fiore (Taste Test) also works in some girl-power advice about not letting a boy become one’s whole life. Ages 12–up. (July)