A review by illstoptheworldandreadwithyou
The Calculation of You and Me: A Novel by Serena Kaylor

5.0

 

When Marlowe Meadows is dumped by her boyfriend at the beginning of senior year, she doesn’t understand what has gone wrong. She feels like she has somehow missed the rules of how relationships are supposed to go, and she seeks help from an unlikely source to learn how to win back her boyfriend. 

 

Goth guy Ash is the opposite of popular boy Josh in practically every way, but as Marlowe learns when she’s partnered with him for a class project, one thing Ash does understand is romance. She proposes that he teach her about romance in exchange for her helping him with the website and social media presence for his band. 

 

With Ash’s help, Marlowe wants to pull a Cyrano on Josh to get him to give her another chance, but Ash has a different idea: he can help her learn about romance through romance novels and their own set of lessons. 

 

Marlowe thought Josh was the right person for her, but as things turn out, someone better has been in the background the whole time. 

 

Honestly, I absolutely adored this one. 

 

Read it for 

• The portrayal of romance as a genre (Ash works at a romance-only bookstore.)
• The neurodivergent friend group trying to muddle their way through high school social dynamics together
• The autism rep (Seriously, Kaylor is fantastic at depicting the experience and feelings of neurodivergent teens. Check out Long Story Short, too, if you haven’t read it already.)
• The queer and ACE rep
• Ash 
• And Marlowe’s assorted mushroom facts

I received an advance copy of the book from Wednesday Books and NetGalley. All review opinions are my own.