Fade into You

In 1999, two white-cued high school seniors work to disrupt their best friends’ relationship in this simultaneously uplifting and unflinching romance, which empathetically depicts instances of disordered eating and suicidal ideation. When aspiring poet Bird returns from a summer writing workshop—during which she tentatively embraced her bisexuality—she’s shocked to learn that her best friend Kayla experienced dramatic weight loss and is now dating gamer Dade. Meanwhile, music-obsessed lesbian Jessa feels that her bestie Dade has abandoned her since entering the relationship. Convinced that the romance is bad news for all involved, Jessa and Bird team up to sabotage their friends’ love lives. At the same time, the girls fall for each other, taking comfort in their bond as they contend with personal challenges: Bird struggles navigating fraught relationships with her family, including her homophobic stepsister, while Jessa fears for her bipolar older sister’s safety, citing her sibling’s violent outbursts and threats of self-harm. Married authors Gellar, making her debut, and Smith (The Way I Am Now) expertly juxtapose wistful 1990s trappings against period-specific societal attitudes surrounding queer identity, mental illness, and topical issues including the Columbine High School massacre and the AIDS epidemic. The protagonists’ sympathetic characterizations and sizzling chemistry act as a balm for the topics addressed. Ages 14–up. (Nov.)