Forward March

December 1, 2021
Grades 8-11 Harper has learned to keep her head down at school; as the dean's daughter, and with a politician dad, she knows any slipup could become major news. So when she learns someone has set up a dating app profile with her name and her pictures matching with other girls, she instantly spirals. The even bigger problem is that the catfisher using her face has been chatting with Harper's bandmate Margot, meaning she has to explain she's not that girl and she's not queer. But the more time Harper spends with Margot, the more she questions her own identity and what those questions could mean for her future and her family. This puts a new spin on the fake-dating trope in YA, tackling big issues that are still present for queer teens today, like family acceptance in conservative spaces, while hitting all the sweet beats of any YA romance. Quinlan's debut is the perfect read for proud band nerds and anyone who's learning to accept themselves, no matter what.

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December 15, 2021
An ace band geek comes into her own in Quinlan's debut. High school senior Harper prefers to stay out of the spotlight. The daughter of the leading Republican presidential nominee (dad) and her private boarding school's conservative dean (mom), she tries to focus on her position as first chair for saxophone in marching band and her best friends, queer Nadia and bisexual, nonbinary Bellamy. She couldn't be more surprised to learn that her classmate Margot, the Canadian ambassador's daughter, is being catfished--by someone posing as Harper. As the two strike up a real-life friendship that quickly turns romantic, Harper has to navigate her health (she has asthma exacerbated by anxiety), increasing friendship tensions, her burgeoning realizations that she might be a lesbian and asexual, decisions about privacy and her romantic life, and a family rift. Christian, her older brother who cut off contact with their toxic parents, is gay, an army veteran, and in recovery from addiction. Harper's first-person narration satisfyingly hits the beats of many queer teen rom-coms, including triumphant growth in self-awareness and a tidy ending. It is immensely refreshing to see an asexual romantic lead whose sexuality isn't a point of conflict in either her relationship or the broader narrative. Harper and most other characters default to White. Nadia is Indonesian, and Canadian Margot is biracial (implied Black and White). Readers will welcome this addition to the ace YA canon. (trigger warnings, resources) (Fiction. 14-18)

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June 1, 2022

Gr 9 Up-It's Harper McKinley's last year as first chair saxophonist in the school marching band. While her conservative Republican parents want their family to stand out to aid her father's presidential run, all Harper wants to do is blend in and focus on the band and her friends. She's doing just that when suddenly, Margot, a girl she's only spoken to once, bursts into her dorm to break up with her. Shocked, it's then she learns that someone has been posing as her on a dating app, and exchanging explicit messages with Margot, a drummer in the marching band, and the biracial, dreadlocked daughter of the Canadian ambassador. The two become fast friends with added romantic tension while Harper works to figure out her own identity with the support of her friend Bellamy, who is bisexual, nonbinary, and uses they pronouns. Harper confides in them as she grapples with the realities of being a closeted asexual lesbian and a subject of interest for the paparazzi with a mysterious dating app scandal, a newly blooming love, and high-profile homophobic parents. At first glance this book appears to take on too much at once, but Quinlan skillfully weaves everything together brilliantly into one very natural-feeling, heartwarming, and compelling story following characters who teen readers will be glad to have met. Contains trigger warnings and resources. VERDICT A wonderful ace rom-com bursting at the seams with representation, this is a must-buy for all collections.-Kayla Fontaine

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