Jason and Kyra

Jason and Kyra, two teenagers from very different social worlds give us a look into all of the current complications of love.
Jason, arguably one of the hottest guys in school, has the “right” girlfriend (equally hot and willing to have sex whenever he wants), is the star of the basketball team. His mother, having passed away, has left Jason and his father in a tense relationship. His father is often traveling for work, leaving Jason feeling lonely and overlooked. Jason works incredibly hard to keep up his grades, to play well, all to impress his father. Instead of noticing, his father will drink, spend time with his girlfriend, and berate Jason for never being good enough. Thus our Romeo is often forlorn, desperately seeking someone who he can truly talk to.
Kyra is smart, honest, and unnoticed. She has a loving family that supports her, and challenges her academics. She is beautiful, but unaware, and charmingly strong, as you want Juliet to be. She has longed to be in love, but is painfully aware of how she compares with her older sister and brother—each of whom has found incredible success socially or academically--and so she is torn between her strengths as a student and her awkwardness socially (nappy-headed haunts her for the entire book). As the youngest she embraces her role willingly, though is looking for some sort of change. She meets Jason in AP English, and is upset that they will have to partner for an assignment. She assumes that he will bring her grade down, and he shows her up by both having a higher average (he got the only A on a pervious assignment) and his knowledge of the task at hand. Their relationship begins, as all good ones do, as friends. They are both amazed at the ease of their conversation, at their similarities, and their attraction.
Davidson switches between each point of view, writing the insecurities of each one’s age well. They are wholly in love, they are wholly out of love, they are anxious, nervous, happy, sad, angry…the works. One just wants to be heard and accepted, the other is insecure and needs to learn how to trust how special she is. This book is great for both boys and girls, and kept a smile on my face while I was trapped for 5 hours in the Atlanta airport. A must read.