Year of Mistaken Discoveries by Eileen Cook (review)

Senior year is tough for Avery: first, she and her boyfriend break up; then she’s waitlisted by Duke, her dream school; then Nora, her childhood best friend, commits suicide after a failed search for her biological mother. Like Nora, Avery is an adoptee, and she decides to honor her friend by letting Nora’s quest inspire her own; she embarks on a search for her own birth mother, making the task into her senior project in partnership with Nora’s friend, Brody. Brody has his doubts about the wisdom of the quest, but he clearly likes Avery, and Avery can’t help thinking that it’s just the kind of meaty project topic that will impress Duke. Cook provides her usual fluid prose, and the search story is generally credibly constructed, with the internet allowing for progress based on small bits of information; Avery’s mixed motivations for her search add complexity. The relationship and eventual romance with Brody are less successful, though, since Brody is a largely flat character, who’s mostly there to identify and fulfill Avery’s needs. Additionally, Avery’s journey toward self-realization dives into sentimental corniness (“In that moment I began to believe”) that undermines the significance of her growth. Even readers living with their birth families will understand Avery’s search for her own identity, though, and they’ll wish they could have Avery’s handsome loyal assistant as they define themselves.