MY BIG NOSE AND OTHER NATURAL DISASTERS

In the well-heeled, hardly diverse suburbs of Reno, Nev., Jory Michaels has two big goals for the summer before senior year: to earn enough money to get the petite nose she’s always wanted and to lose her virginity. Significant obstacles to each: She’s a somewhat clumsy driver, so her job driving a bakery delivery van has its limits, and she’s a good-natured girl looking for a romantic connection with a boy, not just a physical encounter. Jory’s longtime crush is finally paying attention to her, but it turns out he is struggling with hiding his gay identity from his father. Another boy’s aggressive approach is off-putting even as Jory’s encounter with his unzipped shorts is cringingly funny. Several missed opportunities with a third and most likely lad have a sweetly comic dimension, while Jory’s first experiences with drinking demonstrate without didacticism the downside of impaired socializing. Complex, likable, believable characters and a fresh, appealing fictional voice pull together this very agreeable summer romance. (Fiction. YA)