Starred Review High-school senior Quinn has secrets that she has never told another person. Instead, she jots them all down in a red spiral notebook, never to see the light of day. This spiral notebook is full of lists related to secrets, crushes, and dreams from her childhood until now. It isn't until an accidental notebook switch that Quinn finds herself at the mercy of a blackmailer who threatens to reveal all of her secrets to the high school. Quinn is a Black teen girl in a predominately white Texas neighborhood and school, who experiences microaggressions daily and is unsure how to navigate them. Not only that, but her parents' relationship seems to be falling apart, and her grandmother's dementia is slowly stealing away her memories. In this transformative year, Quinn doesn't expect to make waves, but a blackmailer revealing her deepest secrets forces her into the spotlight. With the help of some of her classmates, Quinn unpacks what it means to be Black and creates lasting relationships that help her flourish. Goffney's important debut novel navigates the messy feelings Black teens may experience in a supposedly post-racial world where their challenges often do not mirror the challenges their parents faced. This authentic look at the teen years will undoubtedly delight readers.

After her journal goes missing, a high school senior is blackmailed into completing her most sensitive to-do list.By all appearances Quinn has everything-her family is rich, she is well liked at her private school, and next fall she's headed to Columbia, her parents' alma mater. But it's an act: Quinn uses her journal as a place to alleviate some of the pressure around her secrets and fears so she doesn't have to directly confront them. The biggest among them are that she was in fact rejected by Columbia and has been lying about it and that being one of only five Black students at a mostly White school is really hard. When Carter, a Black classmate she crushes on, mistakenly takes her journal and then loses it, the person who finds it starts anonymously threatening her. If Quinn doesn't complete her "To Do Before I Graduate" list, the mystery person promises to reveal her secrets on social media. Because Carter lost the journal, he volunteers to help her discover the culprit. The character development is excellent; even Quinn's parents get rich storylines. Goffney's explorations of race and class are also well executed. At its heart, this is a story about finding the courage to be honest and take risks and the freedom that follows from embracing authenticity.A perfect mix of humor and romance-and a source of inspiration for being brave. (Fiction. 14-18)

After her journal goes missing, a high school senior is blackmailed into completing her most sensitive to-do list.By all appearances Quinn has everything-her family is rich, she is well liked at her private school, and next fall she's headed to Columbia, her parents' alma mater. But it's an act: Quinn uses her journal as a place to alleviate some of the pressure around her secrets and fears so she doesn't have to directly confront them. The biggest among them are that she was in fact rejected by Columbia and has been lying about it and that being one of only five Black students at a mostly White school is really hard. When Carter, a Black classmate she crushes on, mistakenly takes her journal and then loses it, the person who finds it starts anonymously threatening her. If Quinn doesn't complete her "To Do Before I Graduate" list, the mystery person promises to reveal her secrets on social media. Because Carter lost the journal, he volunteers to help her discover the culprit. The character development is excellent; even Quinn's parents get rich storylines. Goffney's explorations of race and class are also well executed. At its heart, this is a story about finding the courage to be honest and take risks and the freedom that follows from embracing authenticity.A perfect mix of humor and romance-and a source of inspiration for being brave. (Fiction. 14-18)