cover image Fangirl

Fangirl

Ken Baker. Running Press Teens, $9.95 trade paper (272p) ISBN 978-0-7624-4344-4

Baker, a correspondent for E! Enter-tainment Television, makes his YA debut with a fun, pop culture–saturated romance filled with song lyrics, IM chats, text messages, and hashtags. Fourteen-year-old Josie Brant’s loner life is turned upside-down when her BFF Ashley wins a contest using a song Josie wrote. The prize is meeting 16-year-old singing sensation Peter Maxx, and when Josie does, sparks fly. Peter and Josie begin to communicate via Twitter and, despite their disparate lives, connect over their shared passion for songwriting and help each other deal with parental difficulties (including divorce, arrest, and death) and the pressures of fame. When Josie and Peter reconnect in Las Vegas, their worlds collide disastrously. As Baker alternately focuses on Josie and Peter’s points of view, it can sometimes feel as though he’s #tryingtoohard to construct believable, of-the-moment teenage characters (“[Josie] wished she could Tweet her fifty-nine followers the news. #Winning!”), but readers should still enjoy this heart-racing, behind-the-music story of love and being true to oneself. Ages 12–up. Agent: Michael Bourret, Dystel & Goderich Literary Management. (Oct.)