Crashing in Love

Jacobson (Small as an Elephant) creates a well-paced blend of mystery and romantic idealism set in mid-coast Maine. Inspired by her collection of self-improvement quotations, 12-year-old narrator Peyton Campbell has plans for her summer all laid out, including trying to find someone who matches her list of “The Top Ten Musts for the Perfect Guy.” But the summer changes when, cycling to her best friend’s house, Peyton spots an unconscious hit-and-run victim around her age and calls 911, then learns that the boy, Gray Olsen, is in a coma. Even before Gray’s mother offers Peyton a job watching over him when she can’t be at the hospital, Peyton becomes certain that she and Gray are destined to be together romantically, and determines to find the person who hit him, despite her divorced parents’ disapproval. Subplots involving Peyton’s fears that she’s losing her best friend, her suspicions about a boy she meets at the hospital, and increasing pressures to end her obsession with Gray’s situation add tension to the story. If the conclusion is perhaps a bit tidy, Peyton emerges as a realistically flawed heroine who learns that well-laid plans don’t always work and truth isn’t always the way one person sees it. Characters default to white. Ages 10–14. Agent: Alyssa Eisner Henkin, Trident Media Group. (Oct.)