Mia is a consummate stage manager, talking her friends through their dramatics both on and off the stage. But since no one ever actually takes her advice, Mia launches HeretoHelp, an anonymous social media account. Maintaining anonymity is tough when Mia knows her friends so well, however—and she’s starting to have more insight into their lives than is comfortable. Plus, someone is finally paying attention to her: new student Sadie, a confident piano prodigy who seems truly interested in learning what makes Mia tick. As asexual Mia figures out what a relationship might look like for her, she also learns more about friendship—and what to do when people take her for granted. Horan neatly subverts tired genre tropes, forgoing manufactured drama for a strongly developed character-driven narrative. Sadie and Mia’s romance moves beyond the question of whether a relationship between asexual and allosexual partners can work, investigating the how of it with humor and heart. Mia’s strong, likable voice propels the story, and readers will come to care about the cast around her as much as she does. Mia and Sadie are cued white.
English (US) ·