Nisha Sharma
Crown Books for Young Readers
May 15th, 2018
Winnie Mehta has a lot on her mind. The family astrologer predicted that her soulmate–whose name would begin with ‘R’–would be someone she met when she was very young, and would gift her with a silver bracelet.
Her now-ex boyfriend Raj had been in her life forever and had gifted her with a silver bracelet, but over the summer he had changed into a person that was too different from her. He no longer wanted to go to film school like her, and worse, he thought she should give up her dream to be a filmmaker and go to college for something else like him! She told him they needed a break.
She finds out once high school starts back up in the fall that he took the word ‘break’ as ‘break up’. He started seeing someone else.
Now Winnie has to deal with Raj still taking part in the film club–and trying to take the lead for the film festival away from her. She needs the event for her application to NYU’s film department, and when Raj uses the situation to convince Winnie to get back together with him–that’s the last straw.
Meanwhile, Winnie starts working at the Rose theater and reconnects with an old friend–Dev. Now she’s caught between defying the stars by being with Dev and going to film school, or being with Raj and following her destiny.
Sharma writes a delightful high school love story that’s fresh and interesting. The characters are fun, and as a reader you can’t help but recall old and favorite high school shows and movies as these characters agonize over their love lives and school dances. This is a lovely installment to the genre, and one I’d recommend to anyone.
JL Jamieson is a strange book nerd who writes technical documents by day, and book news, reviews, and other assorted opinions for you by night. She is working on her own fiction, and spends time making jewelry to sell at local conventions, as well as stalking the social media accounts of all your favorite writers.