I've been reading infinitely more contemporary YA this year it feels like. Much like with All the Bright Places, I picked this one up for the Indiana setting. Luckily, I enjoyed The Start of Me and You much more. The novel follows Paige, who's first boyfriend passed away in a freak swimming accident a year ago. And while their romance was burgeoning when he died, Paige has spent the last year in grief and shock. And now for her small community she is forever linked to a boy that passed all too soon. But this will be the year that she gets back out there. And she's got her eye set on her old crush Ryan Chase. And her developing friendship with his cousin Max may be the in she needs for the relationship. Paige has a list of things to accomplish this year to get her life back on track, and she fully intents to attack it head on. 
 Yes, this novel is a contemporary romance. But, like most good YA novels, at it's heat it's a coming of age. Paige's coming of age is complicated by that it is happening in the shadow of an awful tragedy. She feels a responsibility to her first boyfriend. But it was also a new and largely innocent first romance. So there's a lot of internal conflict for her there. And the conflicts, whether internal or external, in this novel hold a lot of simple truth to them. 
 I loved the friendships in this book. Whether it was Paige and her girlfriends. These girls were there for each other in all the ways that mattered. They could throw together impromptu parties when one had a disappointment. They offered each other shoulders to cry on. They were each other's go to when needing out of a tough spot. They still had their disagreements and tensions. But they worked through them. And in a realistic way. And the larger friend group they developed with Ryan and Max was also charming. I love that Ryan and Max both got to be complex and good characters, while still being vastly different. 
 I love the quirky details of this novel. Like Paige and Max's inside joke about Pride and Prejudice. Paige wants to be an Elizabeth, but Max insists she is a Jane. And shows her that being a Jane is not a bad thing. I do feel Jane often gets a bad wrap, I was glad to see Lord saving her reputation a little. I also loved all of the quiz bowl bits. Who doesn't enjoy a good quiz bowl?