Say No to the Bro
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
The hijinks of Miss Congeniality meet the high school gender politics of The List in Kat Helgeson’s “funny, smart, and exciting” (Ami Allen-Vath, author of Liars and Losers Like Us) novel about two teens who become entangled in a cut-throat prom date auction.
Ava’s plan for surviving senior year at her new school is simple: fly under the radar until graduation. No boys. No attachments. No drama. But all that goes out the window when she gets drafted into the Prom Bowl—a long-standing tradition where senior girls compete in challenges and are auctioned off as prom dates to the highest bidder.
Ava joins forces with star quarterback Mark Palmer to try and get herself out of the competition, but their best laid schemes lead to self-sabotage more than anything else. And to make matters worse, they both begin to realize that the Prom Bowl isn’t all fun and games. When one event spirals dangerously out of control, Ava and Mark must decide whether shutting down the Prom Bowl once and for all is worth the price of sacrificing their futures.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In her first solo novel, Helgeson (coauthor of Gena/Finn) draws a sensitive portrait of two teens who fall for each other, despite occupying different places in their school's social strata. Ava's father, a football coach, moves the family to his hometown for Ava's senior year after her mother abandons the family. School quarterback Mark immediately notices and reaches out to Ava, catching her off guard (Ava doesn't consider herself the football player type). Both teens are shocked when Ava is chosen as the "Wild Card" entry for the Prom Bowl, a fund-raiser that's part pageant, part date auction: Mark had already hoped to take Ava to prom, and she thinks the competition is sexist. Through Ava's reluctant participation in the event as a conflicted underdog, Helgeson deftly explores the complexities of popularity and the pressures placed on girls to perform for and please boys. Alternating first-person narratives give candid insights into the ways both teens try to do the right thing (and sometimes fall short) as they push back against systems they aren't comfortable with. Ages 14 up.
