This was so sweet!! 💕💕 Mariama J. Lockington nailed a lot of adolescent experiences, from trying to cope with anxiety and mental illness at a young age (in increasingly unhealthy ways), the connection kids can build with each other, and the awkwardness but also excitement of falling in love for the first time. The scene of Zora comforting Andi in the bathroom before their showcase made me tear up, it definitely reminded me of the times I’d broken down in front of a close friend at 12 or 13 years old. (And how lucky anyone is to have that kind of support! Carter and Everett, I hope you’re both still doing well.)

I thought I’d be bored by the long stretches of time where the story would be in only one of the POVs—they switch every week, not every chapter—but both Zora and Andi were interesting narrative voices. Not only do they have their own personal touches added by the author, but I also loved seeing the ways they viewed each other in their chapters!! (Especially in the first week and first few Zora chapters, when they didn’t know each other as well.) I do wish, though, that I at least could’ve seen Andi’s POV one more time after everything that happened in the end.

This isn’t 5 stars because I was a little disappointed by how sparse the poetry was—most of it was in the interludes and unfortunately seemed to be kept to the camp’s POV; not much of the cast was developed besides Andi, Christopher, and Zora; and the ending was a little abrupt. But I enjoyed a lot of this. The kids acted like kids, and the romance was cute and well-paced (for both the plot, and Andi and Zora’s age group).

And this isn’t something I enjoyed,  but I was surprised at the accuracy of the self harm depicted. I think everyone should take the TW seriously.