Introducing quirky young heroines with overprotective parents is a popular way for authors to set up conflict as the girls try to break free and find their own identity. In Well, That Was Unexpected by Jesse Q. Sutanta a southern California teen's mother disapproves of her social life and whisks her away to Indonesia to find her a suitable boyfriend. The Epic Story of Every Living Thing by Deb Caletti explores the world of kids with sperm donor dads, as a teen connects with half-siblings through social media. Long Story Short by Serena Kaylor finds a home-schooled genius sent off to Shakespeare Camp to prove her readiness for independence.
In Well, That Was Unexpected Sharlot Citra's Chinese Indonesian mother catches her in a compromising position with her boyfriend and immediately takes her to Jakarta for the summer to get her away from him. To ensure Sharlot finds a suitable romantic partner, Mom starts an online conversation with George Clooney Tanuwijaya's father. George's dad is equally worried about his son's romantic endeavors. Online each parent is pretending to be their teenage offspring. Sharlot and George reluctantly meet for coffee and immediately butt heads. Neither resemble the online version of themselves that their parents created. However, George is the public face of an etiquette app for teen boys that is being launched by his family's wealthy business empire and he agrees to a fake dating situation. As they spend time together, Sharlot begins to warm to Jakarta and George himself. This charming romcom is filled with humor and romance and an intriguing insight into the Chinese Indonesian culture.
The Epic Story of Every Living Thing introduces Harper Proulx, who is pressured by her single mother to be an academic achiever who is always thinking about the future. She is addicted to Instagram and is constantly creating posts that are tweaked to perfection. Her boyfriend Ezra is so tired of being an extra in her Instagram life, that he breaks up with her. Harper has always wondered about her sperm donor dad and when a chance comment online connects her with four half-siblings, she steps out of her comfort zone and embarks with them on a journey to find their biological dad. Beau Zane is a deep-sea diver who lives in Hawaii and is obsessed with solving the mystery of a sunken shipwreck. At the beginning of each present-day chapter there are excerpts from 19th century letters, journals and newspapers about a seafaring expedition related to the shipwreck. Beau teaches the kids to dive and enlists their help with his project. As Harper puts down her phone and begins to connect with the real world, she is amazed at the beauty of everything living thing.
In Long Story Short 16-year-old home-schooled math genius Beatrice Quinn has just been accepted at her dream college Oxford University. Her parents, however, don't think their anxious socially awkward daughter is ready to live abroad alone. Bea strikes a deal with them. If she can spend the summer at a Connecticut Shakespearean Camp and come out of her shell, they'll let her attend Oxford. They assign her tasks including making a friend, engaging in small talk, pulling a prank, among others. When she meets her Black bi-sexual extroverted roommate Mia, she is one step closer to success. Mia and Nolan, her gay best friend, help Bea achieve her goals and more. She gets a part in a play, attends parties, and even enters into a Shakespeare-off with her crush/nemesis Nikhil Shah. Bea's evolution from awkward math nerd to self-confident actor is handled realistically, and the enemies-to-lovers romance is predictable, yet charming, as the two wittily spar, using the Bard's works as fodder.
