This is the kind of pretentious twee YA that I really enjoy. Like: would a grieving teen really write beautiful poetic letters to Judy Garland? Maybe? I don't careee, I liked the book, and it came recommended to me by a couple of my teen advisory board kids. Teens who liked [b:The Perks of Being a Wallflower|22628|The Perks of Being a Wallflower|Stephen Chbosky|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1438668337s/22628.jpg|2236198] are gonna like this (and surprise, Stephen Chbosky is thanked in the acknowledgments here).

If you can suspend your disbelief to get over the letters thing, it's really a beautiful exploration of a teen girl's grief and a pretty realistic look at the dynamic of a group of artsy misfit teens, including 2 girls coming to terms with their queer sexuality.

content warning for sexual abuse.

ps I saw some reviews that were v skeptical of a modern-day teen's affection for Nirvana and Jim Morrison, etc but when I was a pretentious artsy teen we loved that shit because it was way more ~real~ than ~today's pop music~ and I know some teens now who are still into Nirvana at least, for what I assume are similar reasons...so I bought it.