• Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews 2022 April #2
  *Starred Review* This blistering novel in verse follows two 16-year-old girls, both Black and queer, as they share a final, combustible day together following two-and-a-half years of friendship that bled into a messy, passionate, undefinable romance. Sections of the present are intercut with flashback vignettes, gradually assembling a collage of the intimate history that informs the girls' impetuous last outing. And while there are certainly dramatic events—the day is bookended by (relatively innocent) arson—Woodfolk doesn't rely on shocking twists or gimmickry to propel readers, instead immersing them in the raw emotions of the characters, heightened by the intensity of first love, with all its promise and problems. The verse, written in direct address from a first-person perspective, is tight and energetic, effective and deeply affecting. There's a kind of minimalism to the story's tight focus—character names are omitted; backstory is limited to this couple's relationship—and many of the novel's elements, such as the setting and events, double as metaphor, making for an elegant overall construction that causes the novel (which, yes, is in verse) to feel like a poem itself. This is no genre romance, and a happily ever after is not the goal. Rather, this book is an uncommon exploration of girlhood and its messier relationships: the ones that, though they go out, burn bright and big and leave an indelible mark. Grades 9-12. Copyright 2022 Booklist Reviews.

Ashley Woodfolk has loved reading and writing for as long as she can remember. She graduated from Rutgers University and worked in children’s book publishing for over a decade. Now a full-time mom and writer, Ashley lives in a sunny Brooklyn apartment with her cute husband, her cuter dog, and the cutest baby in the world. Her books include The Beauty That Remains, When You Were Everything, and the Flyy Girls series. Find her on Twitter or Instagram @ashwrites.