This was a sweet YA romance! I always appreciate a romance with a neurospicy main character because I feel like it's not super common in modern romance. And I also felt like Marlowe was written very well. My main hold up with this book is that I just didn't feel the romance was very believable, but it was still an enjoyable read.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book.

Ohhhhhh this book was so, so swoon worthy. The only thing that could have made this better would be a dual POV where you could see the pining on the end of the MMC. I also wanted to shake the FMC for trying so hard to get that trash dude bro ex of hers when she had the real deal right in front of her the whole time. But, the autism rep and book loving was relatable and the whole thing was so cute and a joy to read.

The Calculation of You and Me is a heartwarming and clever YA novel that blends romance and math. Marlowe, a logical and math-obsessed teen, meets Ash, her emotional and spontaneous opposite, sparking a journey of self-discovery and love. Kaylor’s writing is witty and engaging, and the slow-burn romance feels natural and real. This book thoughtfully explores themes of identity, relationships, and the messiness of life. A smart, sweet, and highly recommended read for fans of contemporary YA.

truly the most perfect book. couldn't put it down. i hope this one gets made into a movie!!! marlowe and ash have my whole heart

THE CALCULATION OF YOU AND ME by Serena Kaylor (Long Story Short) is a feel-good book whose pace is a little slow, but that all made sense when I read the author's acknowledgment page and realized how difficult the time working in an ICU during COVID had been for Serena Kaylor. Her second novel featuring neurodiverse characters centers on Marlowe Meadows who has been "dumped" for not being romantic enough by manipulative boyfriend Josh at the start of their senior year in high school. Marlowe turns to a new classmate (and her AP English partner) Ashton Hayes to learn about writing romantic letters, reading romance books, and completing "fieldwork" activities in an effort to win back Josh. She is also supported by loyal, but quirky, friends Odette and Poppy. Kaylor includes a great deal of musing by Marlowe as she attempts to understand others whose brains work differently than hers. Along the way, readers become aware of her increasing attraction to Ash (who seems too kind and mature at times) and Marlowe's own growth and maturation: "I could decide that I didn't want to learn to dance, and that would be fine, but I'm capable of doing hard things. Unexpected things. I might even be good at them. Or not, and that would be okay too." And later, "That's what it's all about, right? Figuring out who we are and what we like and trying everything until we find the answers?" THE CALCULATION OF YOU AND ME received a starred review from Kirkus ("A delightful, richly characterized slow-burn romance about figuring out what you want").

Quick Summary: A high school romance between opposites who are very much similar

My Review: The Calculation of You and Me by Serena Kaylor is a fascinating YA novel. It was released in June 2024.

About the Book: A neurodivergent teen, who goes through a rough breakup, is paired up with a goth rocker, who has always existed in her periphery, for a lit assignment. The more time the two spend together, the more they notice what makes them click in that very special way that means mushrooms, hearts, stars, rainbows, and music.

About the Characters:

Marlowe - > A "romance" scheme to get a certain someone to notice her backfires magnificently. Will her well thought out ploy serve to reveal the things that she really needs to see?

Ashton - > The girl he noticed so long ago comes to him for help. Will he be able to keep his feelings to himself?

Josh - > He started out so promising, based on the snippets from the past. Will his arrogance get the best of him?

My Final Say: Wow! That was a good YA. It was refreshingly different.

I loved that the FMC had high functioning ASD. She was captured so perfectly. Even as she tried to navigate within the social scene at school, within her family relationships, within her friend group, within a relationship with a partner, as well as with a new found male friend, she grew. I loved seeing her come to the various points of realization.

I loved how Ashton treated Marlowe. He saw her beyond her diagnosis; he saw her as a person he was genuinely interested in getting to know. I appreciated that he didn't pressure her or push her to answers, rather he patiently waited while she came to an understanding. He was dealing with his own hurts, but he showed a maturity in handling what life threw at him.

I loved Marlowe's friend group. They were true blue. They supported her, despite having their own feelings and thoughts about the ex. They respected her enough to allow her to come to her own conclusions. Still, they told her the hard truths she needed to hear.

I loved that this book was not so neat and tidy. It actually presented age appropriate level challenges. It touched on family life, social drama, dysfunctional and toxic relationships, and more. That made it come across as realistic.

Other: This would make a great YA book club read. There are so many concepts that could be discussed. I could have gone on waxing poetic about what I loved about this book, but I realized that I would likely be given everything away. This is the kind of book that needs to be read and reflected on.

Rating: 4/5
Recommend: Yes
Audience: YA
Re-read: Yes
Keeper: Yes
Status/Level: 💛💛💛💛
Other: LGBTQIA representation

Sincere appreciation is extended to the author, to the publisher (St. Martin's Press | Wednesday Books), and to NetGalley. Thank you for granting access to a digital ARC of this title in exchange for an honest review. It was an absolute pleasure to read this work. I look forward to reading more from this writer.

Serena Kaylor has absolutely done it again. I loved LONG STORY SHORT, but I might love THE CALCULATION OF YOU AND ME even more. Kaylor has a real talent for creating stories with endearing, sympathetic characters and satisfying plot arcs. Such wonderful character development, and Marlowe felt so authentic. As much as the romance lessons and transformation of the friendship into romance was great, I also love Kaylor depictions of friendships. The contrast between Ash and Josh was perfect. And a bookstore that ONLY sells romances? Incredible. I look forward to Kaylor's next story. She's an automatic pre-order author for me now.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Wednesday Books for a copy of this book. All opinions in this review are my own.

Somehow I managed to read this book two times before being able to write a review, and yet I think I enjoyed reading this the second time more than the first. I think Serena Kaylor is now going to be an insta-buy author for me as I have read both books she has written and cannot recommend them highly enough to people. This book follows Marlowe as she tries to learn how to be romantic using tropes and the "bad boy" in her English class. Serena has openly discussed the fact that she is neurodivergent and she writes that into her characters in such a beautiful way. Marlowe is autistic, and really does a great job of representing the struggles that sometimes happen when people don't communicate effectively - the neurotypicals obviously are the problem. This book also discusses other types of neurodivergence, as well as different LGBTQIA+ identities, which I am extremely appreciative of. I have recommended this book to therapy coworkers & friends, and I cannot wait to read anything else Serena writes.

A sweet YA romance. After a hard breakup with her longtime boyfriend, Josh, Marlowe is left feeling like she is not enough. On a mission to prove that she has the emotional depth to be romantic, she enlists the help of Ash, who writes music for his band. As Marlowe develops confidence in herself, she slowly begins to see her life and her relationships more clearly.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary ARC. All opinions are my own. This book was a lot funnier than I thought it would be! It was so cute!

This book is so freaking cute but also very heartwarming! The level of emotional depth made me forget that it is a YA book. Marlowe, Odette and Poppy are such a fun trio and their dynamic had me chuckling often. The neurodivergent representation is fantastic and seamlessly intertwined; I love that it wasn’t Marlowe’s entire personality. The role of romance books in her journey to discovering what love truly is was so unexpected but truly delightful! What makes it even better is Ash’s affinity for romance novels as well! Honestly, you need to read this one now!

I am not a math person in the slightest but I love the YA genre and I’m a sucker for the good girl/bad boy trope. Throw in a bookshop, books of all kinds, and neurodivergence and it becomes a book I don’t want to put down.
Marlowe Thompson isn’t the girl one would expected one of the most popular football players would go out with. She loves calculus and mushrooms and loves talking about calculus and mushrooms. When she’s dumped over the summer she wants to everything she can to win him back. When she’s paired with the new student, Ashton, she realizes he’s the key to winning Josh back.
This was such a cute book! I loved all of the characters and the focus on books and reading, but what I really loved was the inside look we got into Marlowe’s head.
This was the perfect light read after some pretty heavy ones. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced copy of this. I’m sorry it took me so long to get to. The Calculation of You and Me hit the shelves on June 18th.

This was an adorable YA romcom! I loved the friendships, family dynamics, and representation—and obviously the romance. We need more emo love interests with lip rings. Seriously, the scene were Ash does her eyeliner is now one of my top romance book scenes ever. The banter was also top tier.

I also loved the focus on romance and romance books. This book was truly a celebration of the romance genre, and it was refreshing to see our main character slowly fall in love with romance novels of all kinds. Marlowe’s internal struggles with love/romance and her own identity were so relatable and very well written. I enjoyed getting to see her character grow.

Unfortunately, I no longer am interested in reviewing this title. It looks adorable, but I simply do not have the time to spend reading books I am not interested in.

My only real complaint about this book is the cover- it really doesn’t capture the main characters (especially the male main character) well at all. Aside from that, this was such a cute, interesting book. There is zero spice, which feels very appropriate for the age of the characters. There was fun banter all around- between love interests but also her friends. There is good romantic tension between the two main characters and had a very satisfying, sweet ending. I felt like Marlowe’s journey healing from her previous relationship was very realistic- even an extremely smart person can romanticize unhealthy relationships- and it sometimes just takes time and help from loved ones to gain perspective. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me access to this eARC for my honest opinion!

A beautifully told YA romance with a nerd aspect is such a refreshing perspective to read from. Fun read!!

This was a good book, and I liked how there is an important conversation hidden in the main plot about how we treat people with disabilities.

I really enjoyed this one. I think there is an important conversation hidden in the main plot about how we treat people with disabilities. Marlowe knows she can be "too much" due to her autism. but her ex's comments really hit that insecure spot we all have about not fitting in or knowing how to do something. I think Serena Kaylor did a great job conveying the layers these normal feelings are like when combined with a disability.

This book was okay but overall pretty average. The ex was so lame I had a hard time believing she’d actually want him back. I did love Ash though.

When Marlowe Meadows is dumped by her boyfriend at the beginning of senior year, she doesn’t understand what has gone wrong. She feels like she has somehow missed the rules of how relationships are supposed to go, and she seeks help from an unlikely source to learn how to win back her boyfriend.

Goth guy Ash is the opposite of popular boy Josh in practically every way, but as Marlowe learns when she’s partnered with him for a class project, one thing Ash does understand is romance. She proposes that he teach her about romance in exchange for her helping him with the website and social media presence for his band.

With Ash’s help, Marlowe wants to pull a Cyrano on Josh to get him to give her another chance, but Ash has a different idea: he can help her learn about romance through romance novels and their own set of lessons.

Marlowe thought Josh was the right person for her, but as things turn out, someone better has been in the background the whole time.

Honestly, I absolutely adored this one.

Read it for
- The portrayal of romance as a genre (Ash works at a romance-only bookstore.)
- The neurodivergent friend group trying to muddle their way through high school social dynamics together
- The autism rep (Seriously, Kaylor is fantastic at depicting the experience and feelings of neurodivergent teens. Check out Long Story Short, too, if you haven’t read it already.)
- The queer and ACE rep
- Ash
- And Marlowe’s assorted mushroom facts

I received an advance copy of the book from Wednesday Books and NetGalley. All review opinions are my own.