From What I Remember (review)

Kylie wakes up on graduation morning extremely hungover and more than a little fuzzy about how she ended up in Mexico, let alone half-naked in bed with Max, the cutest boy in school. After this overly sensational beginning, the story flashes back to tell a surprisingly well-developed tale of the angst of transitions. Kylie is the hyper-responsible scholarship girl at a posh high school who disappears every day after school to take care of her brother with Asperger's, while Max is the golden boy who feels he has to give up his artistic dreams to be a lawyer so that his dying father won't worry about him. When they are assigned to do a final project together, the two end up, through an almost plausible chain of events, stranded in Ensenada, where they search each other's souls as well as their own, and come up with a match. Additionally, Kylie gains insight into her father's emotional coldness, Max develops the spine to deal with his current girlfriend, and Kylie's crossdressing gay friend Will, coming to the rescue for her as usual, finds his first true love. Kramer and Thomas' prior experience in the film industry really shows here in the quick pacing, the exotic, romanticized setting, the uplifting personal epiphanies, and the teen-movie ending. Happily, then, this has all the right ingredients for an engrossing summer read—romance, of course, both gay and straight, empathy-inspiring characters, a nasty girl whom it's perfectly okay to hate, and the mildly exhilarating danger that comes from those bad decisions that end up making the best stories after everyone is home safe and sound. Pack it in the beach bag along with sunscreen and shades, take a break from ACT prep, and put a Do Not Disturb sign on the worry side of your brain.