I'm not sure why, but I tried really hard to be skeptical of this one. Maybe it's because it was recommended to me by friends who didn't enjoy [b:George|24612624|George|Alex Gino|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1423358952s/24612624.jpg|44165520] as much as I did. Maybe it was because I've been surrounded by discussions about authors who didn't come from the community that they are writing about, and I was skeptical about Gephart. Whatever the reason, I went into reading this with the expectation that I would find some flaw. The only diversity-related one I can think of is that the book has mainly white characters, and the only one with a last name that I would assume went with a non-white name was the bully. At this point, however, I'm not 100% sold on that as a flaw so much as a comment on the book--can I really expect it to be everything?

I appreciated the way Gephart interwove the narrative of Lily and Dunkin. Dunkin felt especially real to me, in that his desire to be friends with Lily interfered with his ability to finally be at the top of the social sphere. In middle school, that is so important. I did like that he stood with Lily at times, and I loved the end where they basically talked about all their secrets together. That felt true to me.

There was one scene I didn't like because the character didn't end up getting any consequences for a bad thing he or she did. (Trying to avoid spoilers here). I get why the characters around him or her had sympathy, but I wanted punishment! This is the second book I've written that about this year, so maybe in my old age I'm getting more punitive. I don't know. It wouldn't stop me from recommending the book.

This would be an excellent book for middle school, high school and public libraries nationwide.