We Ship It

by Lauren Kay

Overview

This rom-com debut has the fierce girl energy of the movie Booksmart, blended with the awkwardness of Kelly Quindlen’s Late to the Party, topped with a thrilling international meet-cute a la Love and Gelato.

Olivia Schwartz has a plan. It’s even color-coded.

And the plan is this: a perfect SAT score, a prestigious college, and a straight path towards her dream of becoming a doctor.

The last thing she wants to do—the summer before her senior year of high school, no less—is go on a cruise. Especially with her parents, younger brothers, and all the unspoken things between them since her older brother’s death so many years ago.

Then Olivia meets Sebastian. He’s everything she’s not: charming, exciting, willing to take risks and run with them. For the first time, Olivia feels like she can have fun...

But there’s a lot bubbling up under the surface on this cruise, and when past secrets begin to come to light, Olivia must face all the truths that she’s ignored for so long: about herself, Sebastian, her brother, the past she thought she understood, and the future she’s always planned.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780063230996
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	06/20/2023
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	83,724
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.25(h) x (d)
Age Range:	13 - 17 Years

About the Author

Lauren Kay lives in Brooklyn with her cat, Sneezy, her husband, and her daughter. She graduated from Brown with a degree in American civilization and a focus in love and relationships (seriously). We Ship It is her debut novel, and you can find Lauren at laurenkaywrites.com.

Editorial Reviews

A fresh and emotional story about first love and loss. Kay perfectly crafts a heartfelt romance, one infused with moments of warmth and bittersweetness.” — Dustin Thao, author of You've Reached Sam

"I laughed out loud and cried reading Lauren Kay's deep and moving debut. We Ship It has all the electricity and awkwardness of new romance, and offers a vital lesson in letting go and enjoying the present—all while shedding light on a pressing public health crisis." — Jordyn Taylor, award-winning author of The Paper Girl of Paris and Don't Breathe a Word

"Lauren Kay's writing beautifully balances the joy of first love with the ache of long-held grief. We Ship It is a poignant and powerful debut that will capture your heart and refuse to let go."
— Kristy Boyce, author of Hot British Boyfriend and Hot Dutch Daydream

From the Publisher

2023-05-24
A complicated story of family dysfunction blended with a frothy romance.

Seventeen-year-old Olivia Schwartz’s drive masks the intense anxiety she’s carried since finding her beloved older brother dead six years ago. Her parents never mention Logan; her 5-year-old twin brothers don’t even know he existed. But on a family cruise, carefree Jules—an old summer camp friend who happens to be there too—tempts Olivia to put aside the science fair research that could get her a prestigious internship with a surgeon, drink alcohol to ease her social awkwardness (consider it “a trial run” for college parties, Jules says), and go after sexy fellow passenger Sebastian. Olivia’s deep repression starts to ease as she tries a more relaxed teen life for the first time, but when she opens up about Logan, Sebastian and Jules keep saying things about him that bother her, leading to an explosive revelation that shakes up Olivia’s understanding of her family. Wooden characters serve only to reflect and refract Olivia’s story, and the thin plot contrivances are distracting. The thematic disconnect is troubling: This is both a book in which addiction is a leitmotif and also one in which problematic drinking is normalized, as Olivia repeatedly asks for Jules’ flask to ease her emotional distress. Olivia is Jewish, and most characters read White; Jules is cued East Asian, and there is some diversity in race and sexuality in the supporting cast.

Tackles deep subjects but misses the mark. (Fiction. 13-17)

Kirkus Reviews