*Jean-Luc Picard voice* 
 YA, the final frontier. These are the characters of the novel Highly Illogical Behavior. Its continuing mission: to explore strange new chapters, to seek out new plot lines and new characterizations, to boldly go where no page has gone before. 
 As far as Solomon Reed is concerned, the final frontier extends as far as the perimeter of his house. His anxiety attacks and agoraphobia mean that he hasn't left the house in over three years and honestly, he's fine with that. He does his high school classes online and has all seven seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation on DVD. Why would he ever want to leave? 
 Lisa Praytor was there the day that Solomon had an ill-fated panic attack at school that left him soaking in the fountain. Fate brings her into his life (or at least, his mother's life) right at the time that Lisa needs to be thinking about her hometown escape. If she can write the perfect essay on her experience with mental illness, she can get a full-ride scholarship right out of Upland. And what better way to do that than by using her budding psychology skills on the crazy kid from middle school? 
 Lisa isn't quite so manipulative as you might think. She's more driven and self-confidant than malicious. As her tentative friendship with Solomon grows, they confide in one another. You see, Solomon is gay and Lisa wants things to be more serious with her boyfriend, Clark. Clark is...well, Clark is Clark. Clark is great. Their little trio turns into something that is greater than the sum of its parts. 
 Fittingly enough, I feel the same way about Sol, Lisa, and Clark as I do about the voyagers of the Star Ship Enterprise. After a lifetime of mostly avoiding Star Trek, all while promising myself that I'd get around to it someday, I finally started to watch TNG at the beginning of this year. This is due mostly to my fantastically nerdy husband, who wanted to be able to watch his tv equivalent of comfort food with me at night. We're only on season four, but I have so much love in my heart for TNG--even the ridiculous first season. TNG is full of goodness and hope and I love all of the main characters equally, except I love Worf just a little bit more than the rest. It really is like televised mashed potatoes and gravy, but it's better because I feel like a better person just from watching it. 
 And, you know, I can't blame Solomon for wanting to stay inside the house with his garage Holodeck. It's safe and there are good stories and his parents do a wonderful job of taking care of him. But the outside holds thrilling promises. There are other people who love him outside, too. To boldly go, indeed. 
 John Corey Whaley pours everything into this book, which is all at once too short and deceptively hefty. Recently in YA, you'll see books being marketed as "For fans of John Green and Rainbow Rowell," and all that really means is that the book is contemporary with some semblance of voice. In this case, though, the marketing is apt. I know a lot of you adore Rainbow and that means you'll like this, too. It hit the same "really good dialogue" button in my brain and I've been needing that. There are romantic elements to the book, but it's not a romance and I wish we saw more of that in YA. That feels more true to life for lots of teens. My only complaint? Not enough TNG in the book, but I've still got half of the series left. My continuing mission isn't over yet, and neither is Solomon's.