THE PURSUIT OF MISS HEARTBREAK HOTEL

Lucy “Lu” Butler is in
heart-wrenching, agonizing love.

Lu believes there are only two kinds
of love: “Never-Ending Pending Love” and “Happily Never After,” and she assumes
that both end in heartbreak. Lu first pines for her English teacher, Ms. Hayes,
but after a high-stakes chance encounter in the bathroom with her former best
friend, Evelyn “Eve” Brooks, Lu’s feelings shift. Unfortunately, Miss Popular Eve
is dating the school’s universally beloved Nate Gray, and Lu doesn’t know how
to own and accept her sexuality let alone pursue a former friend. Lu’s senior
year brings heartache, loss, and complication: an aging grandmother, an absent
mother, an overworked father who spends more hours performing trauma surgery than
at home, conflicts with her sister, and growing doubts about her long-held
assumption that she’ll grow up to be a doctor too. Although Bonneau’s debut novel
offers an unconventional lesbian romance and is narrated in original language,
the confluence of young adult tropes feels slightly derivative: stress around prom,
using drugs to escape, pining lust, and insurmountable familial conflict—none of
which is explored in sufficient depth. The prose is highly stylized and evokes
the mid-20th century: cigarettes are “tars,” friends are “apple-Jacks,”
and girls are “betties.” The onslaught of invented slang is ultimately
disorienting, distracting readers from the heart of the novel—a tender, queer
coming-of-age story. All characters are assumed white.