i usually hate stories set in high school, but i kinda loved this one. the teenagers, while still a bit dramatic, aren't stupid hormone bombs and actually talk with each other before things get unnecessarily complicated. the social hierarchy is there, but without heroes or villains, just normal people and difference of status. the middle class nerdy girl doesn't have to play the victim, bc she isn't one. the popular guy isn't kind-hearted in private only, bc popularity doesn't equal shitty personality. the book is labeled as ya, but doesn't run away from sex. the writing is simple and doesn't try too hard at anything, but perhaps that's what prevents it from being annoying. more importantly, i caught myself smiling and laughing multiple times while reading the mc's interactions. cute teenagers. who would've thought? i wish i had had a friendship like theirs in high school.

took two stars bc, even though i didn't mind the lack of romance between the protagonists, i didn't care about their respective love interests either. in fact, none of the secondary characters are well fleshed out. i don't know what the mc's saw in their bffs and i despised both of them most of the time, especially ruby (imagine having one real friend and they're ruby). so, except for noah and eve's great friendship, their fake dating has no point: henry wasn't that good of a friend, why would i want him as noah's boyfriend? ruby also didn't act as eve's bff and i couldn't have been more indifferent to her crush, oliver. another thing that bugged me was how noah's struggle with school played a big role in his characterization but was eventually boiled down to just a matter of effort (and who the fuck doesn't know pride and prejudice?). all of this made the book less realistic and therefore less enjoyable, but im still grateful to milana spencer for refusing to use miscommunication as a plot device. probably gonna pick up another book by her later this week hoping it can warm my heart as much as this one.