Charlie Owens’ part-time gig for a local ride-share app puts her on the path to self-discovery and an unlikely relationship.
The Backseat app is a convenient way for Charlie to make money. She regularly picks up riders while maintaining her top-notch driver rating. However, her record doesn’t stop her from hitting senior Andre Minasian’s parked car, which turns into her striking a deal: While his car is being repaired, she’ll drive him wherever and whenever he wants in exchange for his not reporting her to Backseat. Their many rides together give Charlie an opportunity to see something more in popular, sporty party boy Andre. Keating includes a side plot that involves a popular social media personality who works in sustainable building and design and is an idol of Charlie’s; there’s a contrived meeting and internship bid for Charlie that feel forced but ultimately end in a pleasant surprise. Charlie and Andre are both likable, with complicated personal lives that are believable without being melodramatic. Charlie is the last to understand things that readers (along with secondary characters) will readily perceive, a familiar tactic that Keating uses effectively to keep pages turning. This novel delivers the satisfying and comforting familiarity readers expect from the genre. Charlie reads as White; Andre is cued as Armenian American.
A pleasant journey through a teen romance.
(Romance. 13-16)