The 99 Boyfriends of Micah Summers by Adam Sass

Even secondary characters are well-rounded, with their own histories and motivations.

Autumn’s coming-of-age is sensitively chronicled, with a wide range of experiences and events shaping her character.

But on August 8, everything changes, and Autumn has to rely on all her strength to move on. In the summer after graduation, Autumn and Finny reconnect and are finally ready to be more than friends. Growing up, Autumn and Finny were like peas in a pod despite their differences: Autumn is “quirky and odd,” while Finny is “sweet and shy and everyone like him.” But in eighth grade, Autumn and Finny stop being friends due to an unexpected kiss. They drift apart and find new friends, but their friendship keeps asserting itself at parties, shared holiday gatherings and random encounters. The finely drawn characters capture readers’ attention in this debut.Īutumn and Phineas, nicknamed Finny, were born a week apart their mothers are still best friends. Some black-and-white line illustrations of Instagram posts accompany the text.

Refreshingly, even when relationships get messy, no one is the villain, and the story pushes back against the idea that young queer people have limited chances of finding love. Micah’s wealth also comes up as a subject of exploration. His mistakes and growth through his insecurities add meaningful complexity to his romantic conflicts. During his pursuit of an idealized relationship, Micah learns that love requires honest and open communication. When fate sends him tumbling into a missed-connections encounter with a handsome fashion designer on the train, Micah pushes himself out of his comfort zone by immersing himself in the persona of Prince Charming and going on an adventure around the Chicago Loop to find true love with help from best friend Hannah, a straight Black girl. After 99 boyfriends, his fans are eager to see Boy 100, but after a disastrous attempt to ask his latest crush on a date, Micah refuses to post yet another secret infatuation without actually making a move. Swept up by the fantasy of fairy-tale romance, an aspiring artist embarks on a modern-day quest for the boy of his dreams.įrom the privacy of his anonymous Instagram account, 17-year-old White boy Micah Summers, a former reality TV star with a famous father, posts drawings of his crushes reimagined as fantastical romance heroes.

The 99 Boyfriends of Micah Summers by Adam Sass