Francesca "Frankie" Spinelli hates her school. Being normal is all she wanted to be, but in St. Sebastian, merely being a girl is already an abnormality. Only leftover weird girls from her previous school were enrolled there, and now she was stuck with them instead of doing all the normal girly things with her friends, who preferred to continue to St. Pius. Frankie also resented her mother, who always insisted that she explored and developed her own personality, while at the same time smothering her with the ideal of how she should grow to be. On top of that, it was her mom who enrolled her to St. Sebastian. Her mom said that it was to save Frankie, but Frankie was not sure what exactly she needed to be saved from. 
 Then Frankie's mom fell into depression, while at the same time Frankie had to go through the confusing state of being in love and being a teenager in general. Perhaps Frankie needed to be saved after all... 
 According to the blurb, this is a story about a girl who attended a predominantly boys school. Looking at the cover design and the blurb at the back, I was expecting a simple teen romance story, with a little (or a lot) of shallow popularity contest among the girls. Or perhaps something like Sungkyunkwan Scandal or Hana-Kimi: For You in Full Blossom. 
 I was in for a pleasant surprise. 
 First thing first, no girls disguised as a boy here (a la Hana Kimi or Sungkyunkwan Scandal). Girls, including our main character, do not have to disguise their gender identity to attend St. Sebastian. Secondly, there are more things to worry about when you are a part of girls minority in a formerly all-boys school than an insignificant popularity contest. Something like campaigning to be allowed to participate in St. Sebastian sports activities, or to be acknowledged as more than a skirt-wearing stick figure on the toilet sign. 
 Told in a first person-perspective, Frankie's voice is clear and authentically teenager. It is a reminiscence of that period of awkwardness; of trying to act like an adult, while subconsciously clinging to the comfort of childhood. Frankie is not shallow, and not excessively trying to be philosophical; everything is just in the right portion. 
 As with 286239842346 teen/YA books out there, this book also contains romance, but it does not dominate the scene. The actual spotlight is on family issues instead : mother-daughter relationship, and how the family copes with the mother's depression. It brought up all the common misconception of depression; all kind of well meaning but ineffective "it's just a phase", "look at the bright side", "you don't have reason to be sad" responses. I love how it shows that support and understanding from the closest people are probably the most valuable asset that will help person with depression. Depressed person cannot just "snap out of it"; it cannot be cured simply by repeating "everything will be fine" mantra. It is not simple and I love that it doesn't present curing depression as simple. 
 All in all, I really like this book. I am glad I passed this several times when I was still in junior high. I think I can appreciate it better now that I am older, and have experienced firsthand that sometimes making peace with your condition is the only way to save yourself.