NOW THAT YOU'RE HERE

A science-minded girl falls for a graffiti artist—the catch, though, is that he’s from a parallel universe.

When a bomb goes off in Danny’s dystopian-flavored universe, he’s somehow blasted into Eevee’s reality, which resembles readers’. Danny latches onto Eevee as a familiar face, even though he only met her counterpart in his world briefly—and her personality there is different. This Eevee’s a nerd rather than artist (though the text mathematically demonstrates how close science and art really are). While Danny’s still making sense of what has happened to him, Eevee realizes that he’s in a tough situation and helps him. The two of them work out the universe swap and with help from Eevee’s best friend and partner in science, Warren, try to puzzle out its mechanics. The chapters alternate between Eevee’s and Danny’s viewpoints. The organic sweetness of their relationship is tempered by the enthusiastic geekery of the nonromantic storylines. Real mathematical and scientific theories appear, and Eevee and Warren live and breathe cherished icons of nerd culture. While the world-jumping is fantastical, the personalities and characters (fully individual, without reaching trying-too-hard levels of quirkiness) ring true. The ending—an escalation into frantically paced scientific theorizing followed by an abrupt conclusion—is a bit of a letdown, but it leaves room for a sequel.

A debut with great characters and huge nerd appeal.