Wren Martin Ruins It All

Gr 9 Up–High-strung student council president Wren Martin has one goal for his senior year term: to eliminate the school’s wasteful spending on the annual Valentine’s Day Dance and use the money to address more pressing needs, like fixing the hole in the auditorium’s stage. When golden boy and student council vice president Leo Reyes comes up with an inspired solution—getting anonymous social media messaging app Buddy to sponsor the dance—Wren is profoundly annoyed. With the app’s anonymous matches slated to be revealed on the eve of the dance, it’s bigger and buzzier than ever, saddling Wren with a year’s worth of collaboration with Leo, his long-time nemesis. Nobody can ever find out that cynical, dance-hating Wren has secretly downloaded the Buddy app—or worse yet, that he’s falling for his match. Employing the tried-and-true plot structure of movies such as You’ve Got Mail, this is a charming, quippy romance perfect for fans of Becky Albertalli or Casey McQuiston. The plot’s semi-strained mechanics are balanced out by effortless chemistry between the two leads and depth in their backstories that yields satisfying character growth. Wren’s asexuality is woven into the narrative subtly and thoughtfully, making this a valuable addition to collections looking to enrich the scope of their LGBTQIA+ representation. Wren is cued as white and Leo as Latinx, with a racially diverse cast of supporting characters.