High-school senior Chamomile Myles is having a rough year: her father's undiagnosed Parkinson's disease is headed toward its final stages, while she wrestles with college applications and a huge crush on fellow runner Gene. Her best friends, Abigail and Hilary, are supportive about her Gene obsession, but no one knows about her father's illness. Then, fellow student, hospital volunteer, and eccentric dresser Brendan, known for his man bun and tutu, enters her family's life to help her dad, and Cham realizes there's more to relationships than the giddy physical attraction she feels for Gene. Diary entries, text messages, and letters to "Dear Universe" offer multiple viewpoints, while Gonsalves captures teen dialogue, concerns, and activities with realism and empathy. Awkward parties with body shots and beer pong, the logistics of when and where to lose one's virginity, and the humiliation of rejection are all portrayed with unflinching honesty. Gonsalves' sympathetic and multidimensional portrait of a young woman facing major challenges will appeal to fans of John Green.

A teen struggles to keep her world divided into distinct halves.At the start of the second semester of Chamomile's senior year, her primary concerns seem to be whether she and her best friend, Abigail, can find cute prom dresses and whether or not she should wait until prom to lose her virginity to her boyfriend, Gene. Alone among her private school peers, she's ambivalent about life post-graduation, procrastinating on completing her college applications. What she's actually avoiding is a future without her father, who's suffering from severe, untreated (because he won't allow it) Parkinson's disease, gradually losing both his physical and mental abilities. When he suffers a medical emergency that causes Cham to miss Senior Night, Cham learns a hard lesson about love and loyalty. Cham finds an unexpected friend and ally in the class misfit, Brendan, and gradually begins to unite her experiences into one coherent narrative. Cham's voice is brisk and witty, and her truths pop out unexpectedly, although the pacing often feels off-too much of the story gets wasted on nonessentials. Cham is engaging, and her life feels real; readers who like tidy endings may find the open, true-to-life resolution frustrating. Main characters are white.A novel with an appealing protagonist that reflects life's messiness. (Fiction. 14-18)

High school senior Chamomile Myles splits herself between two worlds: in one, she-s a mediocre student in Massachusetts, just measuring time by the days until prom. In the other, she and her mother go along with her father-s denial about the Parkinson-s diagnosis he received two years ago, despite his ever-increasing need for care. Cham is terrified of what might happen should her two worlds touch, which is what occurs when her classmate Brendan shows up at her house as a hospital -volun-cheer.- Though Brendan-s presence initially unsettles Cham, his kindness and empathy, along with the way he acts as he pleases with insouciance-wearing a tutu to school, for example-eventually become a comfort. As her father-s condition worsens, and Cham-s attempts to compartmentalize her life cause upheaval in her social life, she learns both to lean on Brendan and that she has more support available than she ever expected. Gonsalves (Love & Other Carnivorous Plants) crafts an authentic read for teens trying to create normalcy at school while struggling with issues in their personal lives. Ages 14-up. Agent: Danielle Burby, Nelson Literary. (May)

Gr 8 Up-After being kicked out of public school for a violent outburst and sent to anger management, high school senior Chamomile Myles enrolls at Gill School, a place of uniforms and typical teenage anxiety. Cham struggles to balance her two worlds: there's school, with worries about prom, college applications, the annual service trip to Nicaragua, and the future; and there's home, where she keeps her father's terminal illness a secret, even from her best friends Abigail and Hilary, with whom she often feels like a third wheel. Cham's mother obsessively stress cleans while allowing her father to pretend his problems are from an old motorcycle accident, when clearly he has advanced Parkinson's. Then Cham meets Brendan, a hospital volunteer and social outcast who effortlessly bridges the gap between her two wildly different worlds. Struggling to pass English and reeling from her brief romance with track star heartthrob Gene Wolf, Cham finds her new friendship with Brendan helpful in many ways. Gonsalves's witty style, diverse characters, and powerful portrait of mental health will intrigue teen and adult readers alike. VERDICT Recommended for realistic fiction fans of John Green and Nicola Yoon. Laura Jones, Indiana State Library, Indianapolis