A review by zinelib
All Alone with You by Amelia Diane Coombs

hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I appreciate a story centering someone who is--or believes herself to be--hard to love. Eloise had severe anxiety and depression earlier in her high school career. Now that she's got her meds right, she's able to function, but the bad times cost her her only two friends. She doesn't care, though; she's got a video game world and her hopes on going to USC to focus on, along with trying to overtake the current leader in the race for valedictorian.

Then she learns that her high GPA won't get her into the college of her choice. She needs to Do Something, which leads her to volunteering for LifeCare, an org that pairs teens with older folks. But first, grumpy Eloise is paired with eternally cheerful (perfect YA boyfriend of color) Austin Yang. Austin doesn't seem to mind that Eloise is his polar opposite and offers to let him help with his elder: former rock star Marianne Landis. Marianne is only 73, but apparently enfeebled enough to require help three times a week. She's a drunk, but seems capable? LifeCare sounds dreamy. I can imagine a company like that requiring sobriety of its clients. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Anyway, things happen as you'd expect them to. Eloise getting over her curmudgeonliness is sweet.