- Genre: YA Romance
- Published by: The Novl, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
- Publish date: May 06, 2025
- Number of pages: 384 pages
- Author’s website: https://www.tiawilliams.net/
- Support local! Buy the book on BookShop!
Scorching-hot summer. Scorching-hot chemistry. Two teens can’t forget they’re just friends in this sweet, funny, electrifying romance from New York Times bestselling author Tia Williams.
MEET AUDRE. Junior class president. Debate team captain. Unofficial student therapist. Desperately in need of a good time.
MEET BASH. Mysterious new senior. Everybody’s crush. Tall, floppy, great taste in jewelry. King of having a good time.
It’s the last day of school at Cheshire Prep, Brooklyn’s elite academy–and Audre Mercy-Moore’s life is a mess. Her dad cancelled her annual summer visit to his Malibu beach house. Now? She’s stuck in a claustrophobic apartment with her mom, stepdad, and one-year-old sister (aka the Goblin Baby).
Under these conditions, she’ll never finish writing her self-help book–ie, the key to winning over Stanford’s admissions board.
Cut to Bash Henry! Audre hires him to be her “fun consultant.” His job? To help her complete the Experience Challenge–her list of five wild dares designed to give her juicy book material. She’ll get inspo; he’ll get paid. Everybody wins.
He isn’t boyfriend material. And she’s not looking for one. Can they stay professional despite their obvious connection?
Fun fact: Audre Mercy-Moore first appeared in the New York Times bestseller Seven Days in June and now stars in her own story
Rating: 4/5
A cute and exciting summer read with the adventure on par with movies like Booksmart and Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist.
Ah, It was so good to be back in the world Tia Williams has created! In her previous novel, Seven Days in June, the main character, Eva Mercy, has a daughter named Audre. Seven Days in June is adult fiction, but this book is young adult and follows Audre, a 16 year old on the precipice of the rest of her life the summer before her senior year of high school.
Audre is feeling immense pressure externally from her mom and stepfather who are both authors (read Seven Days in June if you haven’t already to hear their story!) and have a baby named Alice. While babysitting, she is also planning her college admissions essay and she is beginning to feel like she hasn’t experienced life in the way she wants. Named after four literary greats, Eva’s mom has placed a lot of expectations on her daughter. In order to help Audre this summer, her best friend, Reshma, creates a short checklist of things to do this summer. Enter Bash, the mysterious and infamous new boy in town. He becomes Audre’s funsultant (fun consultant) to help her check off the items on that list.
This book made me feel old listening to the Gen Z lingo and the two main characters communicate often via text, but it was refreshing to read a YA novel that actually felt like teens talking. I was taken back to my own high school years and all the uncertainty and anxiety about the unknown. There is more than just first love in this novel. You have a strained mother-daughter relationship, a tense father-son relationship, and a summer of self-discoveries. Tia Williams reminds us that even teens experience some really negative instances that can impact how they move forward in the world and Audre and Bash find the tools to help themselves.
Read this if you want a summer YA romance that will have you smiling from cheek to cheek, but will also have you in your feels! Also, a moment of appreciation for the pink crocs (you have to read the book to get it ;p )
Have you read this book? What are your thoughts? I’d love to know!
I received an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of this book from Colored Pages Book Tours and The Novl . This has not impacted my rating and this review is voluntary.
Musings by Michelle 