Since it is now the apocalypse and I'm trapped inside with my *cough* rabid hyenas *cough* darling children, I really needed a good pick me up book. How To Speak Boy fit the bill. It's a sweet, funny YA that has no epidemics to speak of. Plus, by reading it I didn't have to avoid talking about it to my friend Tiana anymore. There's only so many times at a social gathering that I can shout 'look, a bear!' when someone asks me how I liked their book before people catch on. I'm a YA burn out, so I didn't expect to like this book anywhere near as much as I did. But How To Speak Boy wiggled its way past the walls of my anxiety and, much like the Grinch, my heart is now a few sizes bigger.
So let's start with the people. Quinn is a hardcore competitive speech and debate nerd girl. It's her senior year and she wants to be captain of the speech and debate team. Standing in the way is a charming, good-looking, get everything he wants the easy way, Grayson. His mom is governor and everybody falls all over themselves around him. Quinn desperately wants to be captain of the debate team, so when she and Grayson are made co-captains it is on. She goes into the competitions with one goal in mind- leave an inch high smear of Grayson across the school gym.
I loved how competitive Quinn was so much. She's smart, determined, and focused. Something else weird I liked? She wasn't trying to win for anybody else. She was doing it for herself, because she loves speech and debate, and she wants to be good at it. She has problems: her absentee dad squashed her mom's dreams of being a photographer and Quinn is trying to help her mom prove him wrong. Plus she is convinced she's going to fail AP government and not get accepted to Boise State University. However, the drama llamas are kept firmly at bay. While most YA has teens taking on adult problems, Quinn faces bad grades, tough competitions, and a perfect chance at first love. Quinn is blossoming into the women that she's going to be. That woman is someone I would love to hang out with.
Grayson is a sweet cinnamon roll with some alpha-hole tendencies. It doesn't help that he starts the story with a bad reputation that may not be deserved. Carson, one of Quinn's best friends, makes sure to remind Quinn about the rumors every chance he gets for his own reasons. After just standing in her presence expecting her to fall for him didn't work, Grayson woos Quinn by trying to help her out. He offers to help tutor her and gives her rides as way to get to know her better. The thing that really won me over was how accepting he was of Quinn's competitiveness and her success, even when her winning meant him losing. It helps that he is not as invested in speech and debate as Quinn is, but I got the feeling that he would have been that way regardless.
Something I was iffy about was how Smith handled Grayson's race. I think he was supposed to be biracial, with his mom being Black. The author chooses to hint at, but never address his actual race. It's a technique that I've seen a lot that I'm not a big fan of, especially since he would have been one of the only kids in his Idaho high school that was a person of color and there's no way Quinn wouldn't have noticed. It would help explain how Quinn thinks he gets everything handed to him but Grayson still feels like he has everything to prove, especially if his mom is a very successful Black woman who wants him to follow in her footsteps. It wasn't outright icky, but it did make me feel a little uncomfortable.
While Quinn always wants to win, her laser focus on winning takes a hit when she finds a miss-filed test in her AP government cubby. For a second, she thinks that she's actually going to pass the class until she realizes that it doesn't belong to her and so she returns it to the right cubby with a note. Since all of the students are labeled by their ID numbers, she doesn't know who's test she has. When the actual owner of the test leaves a message thanking her, notes start flying back and forth and strangers become friends and maybe just a little bit more.
I have a confession to make. I love me a good romance letter. The level of my obsession with true love confessed on a piece of paper knows no bounds. Anonymous? Even better! However, even I struggled with the idea of two teens exchanging anonymous notes. Aren't all high school students tagged with RFID chips now? Weirdly enough, I didn't have as much of a problem with it as I thought. It helps that both characters say at one point or another that they are trying hard not to figure out who the other one is, while secretly obsessing over who the other one may be. The story also doesn't rely on you not figuring out who Quinn's anonymous pen pal is. While I'm trying not to spoil it in this review, just read the dust jacket if you want to know! The important thing is to people taking the time to get to know each other enough to learn to trust.
As Quinn is forced to work with Grayson she starts to see his good side. He's a good co-captain and a thoughtful friend. Even though her coach warns her not to split her focus she can't help wondering what it would be like to trust Grayson. And to make out with him... Her dilemma, paired with the competition, made a somehow action packed but still gentle story. Almost every character got the chance to grow and live up to their best selves. It made this story the perfect bathtub book. This year has already been more exhausting than all of last year, and we have so much more of it to go. I needed a story where I wasn't actively terrified about the outcome.
It helps that this book rivals Buffy the Vampire Slayer for shear quipiness. When Quinn and her friend are trying to figure out who her anonymous letter-writer is, they're stuck reading between the lines.
Quote:
"Yeah, well, people always think about what they write more than what they say."
"Not true. Think of all the internet trolls you just offended."
I will confess to having schnortled at that. I couldn't help myself! There’re plenty more wise cracks were those came from. Whether Quinn is obsessing about having eaten onions before a kiss or being deeply intimidated by Grayson's mom (the Governor!), I couldn't help laughing along. I remember high school age being a bleak tragedy of misunderstandings and hormones. I guess this is why we read YA. Some things are so much better in fiction.
There are so many times when the story could have gone full on angst and just chose not to. Like how Quinn is raised by a struggling single mom working in a diner and living her photography dreams on the side. Their relationship could be about Quinn's guilt and determination to sacrifice her future for her mom. Instead she loves her mom and helps with her mom's photography business because it's something she likes doing anyway. The relationship is sweet and supportive of both of their dreams. Quinn's mom is also team Grayson, in case you're wondering.
I'm so in love with Quinn and Grayson separately that I've barely talked about them together. It's an enemies to lovers romance, so there's a lot of sparks flying. Grayson likes to tease Quinn and has no idea that she isn't having as much fun when she eviscerates him in response. For the first part of the book Quinn finds Grayson annoying and wants to squash him like a bug. She completely fails to see their growing chemistry until it's too strong to be denied. When she does realize that she's into Grayson she convinces herself that she can compartmentalize her feelings. Grayson goes along with it as only a truly confused teenage boy can, figuring friends is better than nothing. He doesn't stop hoping that she'll change her mind, and some of their steamy 'just friend' kisses are doing a lot of his work for him.
The only thing that stopped this book from being perfect was one of Quinn's best friends, Carson. As written Carson isn't a character, he's a plot device to keep Quinn and Grayson apart. Not only does he discourage Quinn from going out with Grayson, he actively sets Grayson up to look bad. The only times you see him on page is when he is making Quinn uncomfortable or manipulating her. You see, he wants Quinn for his very own. Quinn talks in her head about how good Carson is for her, but you never see it on page. Without any concrete examples of why he was her friend I didn't understand why she kept forgiving him. She would even apologize to him every time he was a jerk! I'm not saying that stuff like that doesn't happen, but the narrative never made me feel like Quinn was falling into the trap of a woman apologizing for a man's bad behavior. It seems like the story legitimately thought she was equally at fault. Carson needed to exist to give Grayson and Quinn plot drama, so he did. It was so annoying! When Carson escalates to one final act of supreme creepiness it didn't hold the same power as it would have if I'd really believe that Carson was her friend. Instead I was really impressed with how Quinn handled things but otherwise I was just rolling my eyes.
One final thing for all of you verisimilitude nerds out there. I don't think I've ever seen a book about speech and debate. Whatever sports center there is in the brain that helps people understand organized competition is missing for me, so I often struggle with sport romances. Smith brings up her own high school experience in the acknowledgements and it shows. Without being overwhelming there are enough details to make the competitions feel real. I really understood the stakes for Quinn- what each competition meant for her and why it's important. It was fun learning something new through the eyes of a character that was really into it.
2020 has decided to be the year that breaks us. After natural disasters, political disasters, and now a pandemic, we all deserve a break from life right now, and this book gave it to me. If that's the mood you're in, How To Speak Boy has you covered.
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Reviews with images
A fun, sweet read!
I absolutely adore this sweet YA contemporary. It has all of the You’ve Got Mail feels but with a younger protagonist and a speech and debate competition. I'm a huge fan of the enemies-to-lovers trope, and this one didn’t disappoint! The tension between Quinn and Grayson was palpable, and I was so hoping they would end up together. This book is a must read for anyone who loves sweet romances and relatable characters.
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