High School Epic by Hannah R. Goodman

 

Summary (from the publisher): After her father vanishes, Dani Fetter begins high school already carrying the weight of abandonment. She expects her best friends to help her, but instead, they opt for parties, hookups, and popularity.

Left behind, Dani meets Kevin Martin, an outsider who seems to give her everything her world is missing. Until betrayal cuts deep, leaving her reeling once more. Dani's circle keeps reshaping again and new friends like Ryan O'Leary offer comfort, while old wounds resurface.

Review: Thank you to author Hannah R. Goodman for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This was a compelling coming-of-age story that felt both timeless and nostalgic. Dani is entering high school with the weight of her father's abandonment of her family. When she expects her friends to show up for her, she instead finds they consumed with their social lives and boyfriends instead, leaving Dani adrift both at school and home. When she meets Kevin at school, she thinks she has found someone to show up for her, but their tumultuous relationship only brings more confusion. 

I loved that this book was set in the nineties. Dani is part of the graduating class of 1993 and Goodman does such an excellent job of transporting us to that world. Dani and her friends don't have cell phones or social media but love discussing music, writing letters from summer camp, and sneaking out to house parties. This was the last gasp of time when youth had less stringent parental control and Dani and her friends make the most of it. 

At the same time, this book beautifully captures the anxiety and social angst that nearly every teenager goes through, regardless of graduating class. There is a lot of shuffling in Dani's friend group. Friends fall in and out, couples break up and others form - this is so realistic and true to the social patterns of teenagers. Dani experiences such emotional turmoil over who to invest her time in, which felt so relatable. And in the backdrop of her distress over failing friendships and boyfriend drama is the ever-constant hum of sadness over her dad deciding to leave her family. 

There's a lot of heavy themes in this (which also felt true to life!) including eating disorders, self-harm, parent loss, and lots of teenage drinking. These are the landmines that Dani is navigating every day at school. I do wish her mom had felt like more of a presence! Her mom basically seems to have no clue what she is up to or dealing with (although I recognize her mom was dealing with her own baggage of navigating becoming a single mother). Dani also keeps getting sucked back into an unhealthy relationship. But in the end, I was happy to see her on a happier path socially as this novel concludes. 

This book is really about Dani finding her way socially while processing her deep-rooted feelings of abandonment. It perfectly captures the social anxiety of being a teenager in the early 90s and I enjoyed Dani's character arc as she progresses through the book and her high school years.  

Stars: 4