The L.O.V.E. Club

The once tight-knit friend group, the L.O.V.E. club—comprised of Liberty, O, Vera, and Elle—bonded over their experience with social rejection and a passion for gaming. But soon after Elle went missing, Liberty and Vera moved away, leaving O alone in Calendula, Calif. Three years later, Liberty, Vera, and O meet again during their senior year. The trio’s reunion is rigid until they visit their old clubhouse, in which they discover botanical fantasy video game Morning Glory, seemingly left for them by Elle. But Morning Glory is no ordinary game. Upon loading, the girls are bodily transported into the game’s digital landscape. As they explore, they realize the game is coded with each of their complicated histories, memories, and insecurities. While Liberty and Vera face their own challenges, O—who finds that she has no memory of the circumstances behind Elle’s vanishing—sets about decoding cryptic messages about the game’s true nature. Lushly detailed worldbuilding by Min (Beating Heart Baby) makes for an immersive adventure that explores hard truths and dangerous revelations about the Chinese American characters’ friendships and differing upbringings. Raw, emotive prose captures each girl’s grappling with bullying, familial tumult, loneliness, and sexual, racial, and gender identity. Ages 14–up. Agent: Dana Murphy, Trellis Literary. (Aug.)