The Cutting Room Floor

If Dez’s life were a romantic movie, by the end he would find a way to win over Riley, his neighbor, best friend, and secret crush. But as film fanatic Dez knows all too well, his life is the kind of movie “that would make the viewer uncomfortable.” That’s because Dez has been manipulating Riley’s life to ensure that her romantic relationships (with both guys and girls) never develop. The film he’s directing and she’s starring in is going to be their ticket to college and out of their depressed Minneapolis suburb; all Riley has to do is realize that Dez is the one. Meanwhile, Riley has been unceremoniously outed, and she’s consumed by suspicions about the unsolved murder of her favorite teacher. Debut author Klehr effectively uses Dez’s and Riley’s alternating voices to tell the central story (Dez’s chapters include screenplay-style filming notes), but there are too many complications, loose ends, and inconsistencies surrounding it, and she over-relies on the murder to darken a tale that’s already plenty dark and interesting on its own. Ages 13–up. Agent: Jessica Sinsheimer, Sarah Jane Freymann Literary Agency. (Oct.)