My heart is on wings: LONG STORY SHORT.

Long Story Short by Serena Kaylor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Beatrice Quinn is shocked when she gets into Oxford, but not as surprised as her parents! They didn't even know that their intelligent, shy daughter who loves routines (she eats the same meals on the same day every week) applied and they cannot imagine sending their sixteen-year-old overseas. So they strike a deal: if Beatrice goes to theater camp and completes a series of tasks (make a friend, accept an invitation, get hugged by three people), they'll agree that she's experienced teenage life and is ready for Oxford.

This is rather charming YA story about coming of age and finding yourself. Beatrice is absolutely adorable and a wonderful, feisty, intelligent, heroine that I could get completely behind! I was a little wary about this story because I'm not a huge fan of books where we need to take the plain intelligent girl and transform her into a beautiful person who no longer focuses on the intelligence that she cared about before. Luckily, STORY does not seem to want to change Bea too much, though it hovers on a little too much for me at times.

Bea completely lucks out in meeting Mia, her roommate, who takes her under her wing and has no problem that her shy and awkward roommate is at camp with a checklist. She embraces it completely, as does Mia's friend, Nolan, who is a total sweetie. Like much of STORY, there's a lot of good luck and a bit too much cheeriness, because, let's face it, kids can be cruel. And don't worry, there's plenty of teenage bullying for poor Beatrice, but it's isolated to a couple of kids. Still, I loved the friendship between Mia, Nolan, and Bea, and they are so cute.

Bea's love interest, Nik, offers a great love/hate relationship and they give us palpable (YA appropriate) chemistry. Things drag a small bit as Bea wonders maybe one or two too many times about his intentions and her place in the world. Overall, though, it's a sweet romance and a lovely story. The themes of finding yourself, friendship, and first love are presented in a unique and fun way. And, seriously, Bea is pretty amazing for surviving theater camp--I honestly thought her parents were monsters for that touch.

Overall, this is a fun, touching, and poignant YA rom-com. 4+ stars.

I received a copy of this book from Wednesday Books and Negalley in return for an unbiased review.

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