Ah, the joys of being in our twenties. That awkward time when we’re finally out on our own, taking life by the balls, and fucking it up relentlessly. To say I saw myself and some of my friends in Rachel and her best friend James is an extreme understatement.

This review will contain a couple of minor spoilers that happen early in the book. If you want to go in completely blind, skip ahead to the next review using the chapters.

Rachel works with James at a bookstore and the two are instant best friends. James is obviously gay, but denies it to his very core (high younger me). When Rachel’s boyfriend breaks up with her and James learns Rachel has a crush on older man Fred Byrne – her English teacher, he helps devise a plan to bring Byrne and Rachel closer together. Rachel learned Byrne wrote a book and puts in a bunch of fake orders for fake customers to make it appear the book is going to be very popular and then convinces her boss to hold a book signing event at the store. There’s a decent turnout and Rachel feels pretty confident that it’s only a matter of time before she’ll be in Byrne’s bed, but then she catches Byrne and James kissing in the back closet and everything turns on its head. When Rachel befriends Byrne’s loving wife she gets in over her head and is unwittingly drawn into James and Byrne’s drama, but also manages to cook up some drama of her own with a new boy that just might be the one she’s been looking for – but when we’re young and stupid, rarely can we see what’s good for us.

There were so many times while reading this book that I thought for sure the author had to have been hiding in the shadows watching my friend Erin and I when we were in our 20s (and for me into my early 30s). Looking back on all of our antics now, I can’t believe some of the shit we did and got away with. The thing is, we thought it was totally normal because we were young, dumb, and selfish. This book is filled with quippy dialogue and cringe-worthy moments, but it is also filled with a lot of heart. The characters are all very strong and most of them are sympathetic. It was super easy to connect with them because – having gone through something similar – I knew that In the end they would get through it and everything would be okay. Lessons would be learned, hearts would be mended, and lives would go on.

With its compelling narrative, exquisitely developed characters, and thought-provoking themes, the author successfully captures the naivete of “new adulthood”, heartache and personal growth. Honestly, who would we be without our mistakes?

Obviously, I really enjoyed this book, and it’s definitely one of my favorites this year.