This Might Get Awkward

by Kara McDowell

Overview

Sophie Kinsella meets Sarah Dessen in the most hilarious, romantic book of the summer about a girl with social anxiety and the boy who refuses to let her hide herself away.

Seventeen-year-old Gemma’s favorite kind of beach is an empty one. Social interactions are too much for her to handle. She always says the wrong thing—if she manages to say anything at all. She can’t even bring herself to speak to her longtime crush, Beau Booker, without losing sleep over her own awkwardness.

During a solo outing to her favorite beach, Gemma realizes—to her horror—that the popular kids from school have shown up to throw a party. Before she can sneak away (and possibly puke behind her car) Gemma is pulled into the action and ends up talking to Beau, who asks her to pretend that they’re “close.” Gemma is too flustered and flattered to refuse, and mostly, she’s wondering why Beau is talking to her at all . . . right up until the moment when he falls off the boat, hits his head, and ends up in a coma.

After rescuing Beau from the water, Gemma is mistaken for Beau’s girlfriend by his friends and family, including his mysterious older brother, Griff, who has returned to town after a year away. Gemma tries to correct the record, but her social anxiety (and a nosy reporter) gets in the way at every turn. Before she knows it, she’s in too deep to backtrack. And when Beau’s warm, boisterous family pulls Gemma into their orbit, she realizes how much she wants to keep them in her life.

For the first time, Gemma has everything she’s ever wanted: friends, big family dinners, and Griff—a boy who she can be herself around. But how can she embrace her new dream life when everything is built on a lie?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781338746235
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	03/01/2022
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	1,068,079
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.30(d)
Age Range:	12 - 18 Years

About the Author

Born in the mountains and raised in the desert, Kara McDowell spent her childhood swimming, boating, and making up stories in her head. As the middle of five children, Kara entertained her family on long road trips by reading short mystery stories out loud and forcing everyone to guess the conclusion. After graduating from Arizona State University with a BA in English Literature, Kara worked as a freelance writer. Now she writes young adult novels from her home in Arizona, where she lives with her husband and three young sons.

Editorial Reviews

Praise for One Way or Another:

“An engaging combination of delightfully over-the-top Christmas swoons and realistic anxiety representation.” — Kirkus Reviews

“This book will delight readers who love watching romance at work, knowing that the two protagonists are meant for each other, and wondering: Will they ever realize it?” — School Library Journal

From the Publisher

2021-12-24
After falling into a fake relationship with her crush while he’s in a coma, Gemma starts falling for his brooding brother.

Socially awkward Gemma Wells lives near the Arizona-Utah border where her father runs boat tours of Lake Powell. She finds herself in the middle of the summer’s wildest drama when she rescues high school hottie Beau Booker from drowning during a boating accident. Beau lands in a medically induced coma, and when a nurse mistakes Gemma for his girlfriend, the story takes on a life of its own. Too nervous to tell the truth, Gemma hopes for a potential real relationship with the boy of her dreams. Beau’s hospital stint forces Griff, his mysterious older brother, to return to town, and when he strikes up a friendship with Gemma, she wonders if she’s falling for him instead. Griff and Gemma’s growing relationship will have readers flying through pages, desperate to uncover what will happen when Beau eventually wakes up. Beyond the romance, McDowell shines a spotlight on mental health: Gemma’s social anxiety disorder is displayed in both her social interactions and inner emotional workings, and her friend Sofía opens up about her struggle with depression. While Gemma and Griff’s interactions and growing closeness are compelling and fully drawn, many of the side characters unfortunately fall flat. Main characters are presumed White; Sofía is cued as Latinx.

Hits the mark as a page-turning romance. (Romance. 12-17)

Kirkus Reviews