All the Right Reasons

A teen’s viral post leads to an intergenerational The Bachelorette–style competition in Mangle’s (Prepped) light, winning romance. After a divorce leaves Cara Hawn’s devastated mother, Julia, running a gym with her cheating ex-husband, 17-year-old Cara has zero patience for her father—something the whole internet learns when she accidentally uploads a private video journal. It goes viral as Crybaby’s Hot Mom, gaining Cara and Julia an invite to audition for—and then star in—reality show Second Chance Romance. The show offers Julia the chance to pick a new partner, and Cara to meet the prospective paramours’ only-child offspring. But the arrangement becomes complicated when Cara crushes on a contestant’s son and develops a loathing for the daughter of the guy Julia likes. In addition to underscoring reality show details and unexpected connections, Cara’s wryly humorous first-person narration (“Culturally, if I were a meal, I’d be kimchi and bratwurst and an ear of Jersey corn”) focuses on the protagonists’ close mother-daughter relationship, with biracial (Korean/white) Cara tenderly trying to prevent a still-reeling Julia, of Korean descent and adopted by white parents, from making questionable choices. Ages 14–up. Agent: Jennifer Wills, Seymour Agency. (Feb.)