Common Sense Media Review
By Kate Pavao
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Funny memoir of a boy trying to get his first girlfriend.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 13+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
What's the Story?
Josh Sundquist is in his mid-20s and has never had a real girlfriend. In fact, his longest relationship lasted only 23 hours. So he decides to do some scientific investigation to see if he can find out what's keeping him from true love: He revisits awkward and sometimes painful memories of all the girls he's loved before -- and then actually visits them in real life or over email to see what they were thinking all those years ago. Bright Josh knows that, as a formerly homeschooled Christian who survived childhood cancer but had to have a leg amputated, he's different from other guys. But the conclusion he ultimately comes to has less to do with how girls perceive him than how he perceives himself.
Is It Any Good?
Readers will be impressed by Josh's humor, vulnerability, and some of the universal truths he sums up in WE SHOULD HANG OUT SOMETIME. They'll relate to his comments about how awkward first kisses always are, or how, in middle school at least, "not having to actually interact with my new girlfriend definitely made the having-a-girlfriend part way easier."
Silly graphs and Venn diagrams along the way reinforce Josh's pseudo-scientific approach while helping make the book a fast-paced read. In the end, readers new to dating will appreciate the lessons about self-acceptance and learning to deal with rejection -- as well as examples of how, when it comes to romance, everyone basically feels confused and mortified most of the time.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about Josh's romantic problems. What does he ultimately learn?
Josh calls one crush every day during the summer, even though she never answers or returns his calls -- behavior he's later mortified by. When does attention become stalking?
Josh says, "If I really want to find you on Facebook, no number of privacy setting is going to stop me," which he speculates may be the "creepiest sentence" in his book. Do you think he's right? Parents might want to use this opportunity to review Common Sense Media's privacy and Internet safety tips with their kids.
Book Details
- Author :
- Genre : Humor
- Topics : Friendship , School ( High School )
- Book type : Fiction
- Publisher : Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
- Publication date : December 23, 2014
- Publisher's recommended age(s) : 12 - 18
- Number of pages : 338
- Available on : Nook, Audiobook (unabridged), Hardback, Apple Books, Kindle
- Last updated : September 30, 2025
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