The Bridge from Me to You

When 17-year-old Lauren moves to small-town Willow, Ore., from Seattle to live with her aunt, uncle, and cousins, she feels grateful but out of place. Lauren and her mother have had an unspecified falling out—one that Lauren would rather not talk about—and she is having nightmares about her younger brother. Colby is a local celebrity as a football player, but while he loves his team, he dreams of escaping the pressure of his father’s plans for him—after graduating, Colby would like to quit sports for good and study civil engineering, specifically bridges. Lauren and Colby hit it off immediately, but a relationship proves difficult. Writing in alternating viewpoints, with Lauren’s chapters unfolding in free verse and Colby’s in prose, Schroeder (Falling for You) offers a thoughtful, straightforward, and fairly chaste romance between two kind, generous teens—one burdened by her past, one burdened by his future. Romance fans will find a familiar mix of tragedies, obstacles, and misunderstandings to surmount as Lauren and Colby try to do right by themselves and each other. Ages 12–up. Agent: Sara Crowe, Harvey Klinger. (Aug.)