ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE

A challenge unlike any she has experienced before awaits Jade this summer—staying in one place long enough to possibly fall in love.

Jade is the quintessential contemporary white hipster—vegan, independent, and just the right amount of nerdy. Her 17 years have been spent on the road while her mom’s successful rock band tours the globe. Rather than going to the same school with the same people, Jade has been home-schooled, exploring new cities and constantly making new friends. All that changes when Jade decides to stay in California with her aunt for a summer. To her mother she frames the decision as an opportunity to experience normal teen life, but her ulterior motive is to track down the father she’s never met. She is responsible, quietly confident, and accustomed to freedom; meeting gorgeous and slightly mysterious Quentin, who is also white, leaves the typically unflappable Jade flustered. As the two enjoy a protracted and playful summer flirtation, Jade can’t shake the feeling that there is something that Quentin isn’t telling her. Ancillary to the love drama are several subplots about family relationships, particularly fathers and daughters. Jade and Quentin are empathetic and enjoyable characters. Though their burgeoning relationship is the central story, Jade’s close connection with her unwaveringly supportive mother is perhaps the more interesting.

Potentially weighty explorations of relationships and responsibility are managed with a light touch in this pleasant romance.