The Art of Lainey
Gr 9 Up—In a plot that serves as a modern mashup of classic teen movies, soccer prodigy Lainey is dumped by her "perfect" boyfriend at her family's coffee shop. Lainey and her friend use their summer reading, The Art of War by Sun Tzu, to hatch a plan to win Lainey's boyfriend back. When the plan calls for misdirection, Lainey needs a fake boyfriend. She and Micah, a prickly bad boy co-worker at the coffee shop, make a pact to pretend to date in order to make their exes jealous, and every reader can guess what happens by the end of the summer. The characters are straight from central casting (the shallow jock, the supermodel mean girl, the hippie mother who reads tea leaves), which is unfortunate, given the book's message to look beyond the exterior. The protagonist also lacks depth, which makes it difficult for readers to root for her. Despite the dearth of complexity in the characters, Stokes does a good job with the sports subplots as well as the familial relationships. Lainey is a driven athlete who focuses on her passion, which is a refreshing change of pace from many other heroines in the romantic realistic fiction genre. Lainey's family is supportive and candid, and Micah's sister is a good reality check for both main characters.—Susannah Goldstein, Convent of the Sacred Heart, New York City