There's just something about a girl who uses a math formula as the perfect gateway to becoming popular. That's right, Beatrice, aka Trixie, decides to climb the social ladder on the rungs of the pythagorean theorem (or something similar, you get the idea). The catch? She's doing it after her douche of a boyfriend makes a few too many comments about how he wishes they could sit with the cool kids.

I am a big Gretchen McNeil fan so I was thrilled to hear she was stepping outside her horror/mystery arena and into the world of Kasie West, Stephanie Perkins, and Rainbow Rowell. Stepping is an understatement, though, because I'm Not Your Manic Pixie Dream Girl is a slide into home base after a perfect out of the park ball.

Everything you want in a realistic fiction is right here. Complex characters that you don't always like (don't lie, there are days you can't stand even your closest friends), doing things that make you want to shake them. But instead you watch them make the same mistakes you did as a teen so they can learn the same lessons you take for granted as an adult. You hope it's not too painful when the time comes for them and you completely empathize when they cry over the things they've done. Bea is not perfect, her family isn't perfect, and the teens around her aren't either. That's what makes this story so delicious.

In the end, I'm Not Your Manic Pixie Dream Girl will have you cheering for algebreaic formulas and boys who can see through fake personalities.