Best friends falling for each other, with a deadline!

Every fall season, Deja and Josiah work together at a pumpkin patch. Josiah is the perfect employee, never stepping a toe out of line, where Deja is more outgoing and pushes the rules just a bit. It’s their final season at the pumpkin patch and they decide to do all the things they’ve wanted to but never got a chance. For Deja, it’s one last night with Josiah, her best friend and secret crush. For Josiah, he breaks the rules for the first time in his life in order to run around the park and seer if he finally has the courage to ask out the cute girl he’s had a crush on for years.

This is a pretty typical teen romance in which you know what’s going to happen the moment you read the first few pages. Nevertheless, it’s highly enjoyable and sweet. Josiah is a cute dude who plays everything by the rules down to the last line. He’s been employee of the month about 1000 times, and yet he’s still annoyed by the the one time he’s missed out. Deja is a more free spirit and some much needed lightness in Josiah’s life, and she’s unapologetic about living hers to the fullest. She’s also a queer character (we meet one of her exes), which is cool and isn’t treated like a big deal.

The two go on an adventure through the evening, tracking down the girl and a doing/trying a bunch of things they’ve always wanted to but haven’t yet because of work, and it ends exactly how you’d imagine. The only qualm I had with the book is that Rowell writes them SO WELL as friends, I didn’t really get a lot of romantic chemistry between them, but they’re teenagers and it’s a friends to lovers romance so that can be easily overlooked. They’re jut teenagers who like one another and that’s enough for me. The art by Faith Hicks is also AWESOME and I immediately looked Faith up to see more of her illustrations.

Title: Pumpkinheads
Author: Rainbow Rowell
Format: Paperback
Pages: 211
ISBN: 9781626721623

Three Descriptors: Charming, Feel-good, fast-paced

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