YOU WOULDN'T DARE

Juniper Nash Abreheart has just one summer to mend her past and protect her future.

Her charmingly eccentric Florida town on the island of White Coral Key means everything to Junie, and she desperately needs her last summer there to be perfect before she and her mother move in with her mom’s boyfriend, Paul, and his daughter, Tallulah. The two White girls don’t get along—and now they’ll be sharing a room in Paul’s house in an upscale, uptight neighboring town. Junie needs her three best friends to help her with their community theater’s rendition of Midsummer Madness. Junie and Colombian American Milo, bisexual Haitian American Lucy, and Filipino and White Graham have been close since they were little, but things have been shaky in their friend group since Junie’s secret fling with Graham last summer ended badly. Junie’s changing relationship with Graham, one that offers a chance of real love, is heartfelt and believable, and the various side plots are equally engaging. The portrayal of Junie’s relationship with her single mother is touching. The large cast of characters can at times be difficult to track, but the primary characters are well developed. Themes of trauma, grief, and forgiveness are balanced with witty narration and clever banter in a way that shows that Markum respects teens’ ability to engage with complexity.

A layered story of love, found family, growing up, and embracing change.