learning about happily ever after

Marlowe Meadows, Lo to her friends and family, is looking forward to her senior year. Even though her relationship ended at the start of the summer, when popular boy Josh said he thought they should take a break for a couple of months. He had gone away for the summer, but Lo was ready for him to come back to town and tell her that he’d reassessed their relationship and he was ready to get back together. Someone who understood social cues might have thought he’d broken up with her. But Lo is autistic and hopeful, and she thinks she can convince Josh that they belong together.

But when school starts, he doesn’t call Lo over and tell her he’s ready for them to get back together again. In fact, when she confronts him, he says he wants to think of it as a breakup, not just a break. And then Lo has to put up with the humiliation of being paired with him in AP English on a team project. To dissolve the tension in the room, Ash Hayes offers to trade places and work with Lo. Lo is surprised but glad to get out of the difficult situation, and very happy not to have to work with Josh on a long-term project.

Lo doesn’t know Ash very well, but he seems smart. And he seems smart with words, not just with numbers, which Lo prefers. And they’re faced with having to do an in-depth study of a romance novel. Lo is not excited about that, until she realizes that romance novels may hold the key for her getting back together with Josh. He had told her that she wasn’t romantic enough for him, and Lo thinks that reading romances can help give her ideas for being more romantic. Ash thinks it’s a bad idea because he has a low opinion of Josh, but he does work in a romance bookstore and reads a lot, so he’s willing to help her out.

Ash will pick out novels he thinks will help Lo and offer some fieldwork training, so Lo can feel more comfortable on dates. In return, she will revamp the website for his band, Never Mind the Monsters, and help with their social media presence. She will also take photos of the band for the website and post some videos of their songs, to try to help them get attention and some gigs, and get them set up on some streaming services.

As the weeks go by, and Ash and Lo spend more time together, Lo finds that she enjoys spending time with him. He has good taste in novels, and his bandmates are all good friends who are excited about her changes to their website. Ash never makes Lo feel less than because of her autism, and he does his best to meet her where she is. Meanwhile, Lo is trying to woo Josh back with anonymous love letters.

But the more Lo learns about what love really is, the more she questions what she had with Josh. Is that really the relationship she wants, or does that just not add up anymore?

The Calculation of You and Me is a sweet YA rom com about being a neurotypical teenager in a typical high school. Lo, her struggles with relationships and her obsession with mushrooms, is honest about what she’s thinking and feeling, her logic providing a different perspective on teenage relationships. This story has tons of heart, many laughs, so many romance novels, and a lot of mug cake experiments. And of course, there is a happily ever after ending.

I was really impressed with this novel. I am someone who is not neurotypical, and I found myself nodding along with Lo as she got into challenging situations by not being able to read the room and not understanding when people would say one thing but do the opposite. High school was confusing for me, like others had gotten some kind of rule book that I missed out on. I thought author Serena Kaylor did a really good job of putting the reader in Lo’s shoes, and this novel is itself a good novel to read to learn more about what love is and what it isn’t. I wish I could have read it when I was a teenager, but since time travel isn’t a thing, I can just be glad that I got to read it now.

Egalleys for The Calculation of You and Me were provided by Wednesday Books through NetGalley, with many thanks.