“The climate is like a teenage girl…capricious in her moods.” One of the tour guides on a recent trip said it to describe her country’s fluctuating weather.
While it was funny, it also got her point across. Most of us on the bus were parents, so we understood the inferred association between the fluctuating temperatures and the wide mood swings attributed to most teens. For example, faced with difficulty, a young adult can display a rare form of unexpected maturity, then within the next breath, and subject to their ever-changing emotions, they might plummet into dramatic fit.
Sometimes, you just never know what you're going to get.
I associated the tour guide’s comment that day to book I was reading at the time, The Truth about Romantic Comedies by Sean McMurray.
Having established the way this particular age group usually pings between being an adult and a kid, I’ll add that creating realistic characters that shows that emotional complexity is probably a formidable task. Still, I believe Sean has successfully presented us with such characters.
Sixteen year old Timothy Gephart and the girl he meets in a waiting room, Rachel Wilson, begin a friendship that slowly reveals their perspectives pertaining to their individuals plights. Sean doesn’t shy away from tough topics either. Expect things like cancer, abandonment, identity issues and more. There are life lessons hashed out in this story, yet Sean manages to keep it humorous and entertaining.
Bottom line, whether you’re a YA fiction fan or not, I recommend you add this one to your list of books to pick up.