2017 Independent Publisher Book Award, Young Adult Fiction eBook "A funny, quirky, and realistic tale about growing up."
Sometimes you just want to be perfect. And you obsess and fail and hold on way too tight....until it hurts. Then you let go and find your awesomeness in not being perfect at all.
For sixteen-year-old Francie Mills, life in the burbs is looking like everyone else's...kind of mediocre and boring. She hates her all-girl school, loves her best friend, is annoyed by her parents, REALLY wants something exciting to happen, and is obsessed with being amazing at tennis. Okay, maybe the tennis thing is not so ordinary, but still, it would totally solve everything.
But lately her dad's drinking has been spiraling out of control and her tennis is tanking because of her knee injury and she's left feeling different and alone.
Enter Chet Jones, lead singer of "garage-port band" Blues Harp Jones. Somehow he gets Francie, makes her feel special and is so cute! She falls hard, like how-can-this-be-happening-when-I-just-met-you?-but-I-totally-feel-this-weird-and-deep-connection hard. What does it mean? What are all these feelings? Am I insane?
Questions, feelings, hopes and imperfections swirl as Francie takes un-boring risks to see Chet's band play in L.A, making new friends in goth Stella and "would-be Martin Scorcese" Eddie. Eddie falls for Francie with his sweet, quirky honesty but he's not as exciting as Chet which leaves Francie even more confused. But as Francie struggles with her questions and feelings of self-doubt and anger at her father's failures, she comes to a new understanding about human connections and realizes that if someone lets you down (or you let yourself down!), you can always pick yourself up and be loved, as is, maybe even loving yourself, flaws and all, as you find a little hope in the universe.
