Book Review: The Calculation of You and Me

The Calculation of You and Me by Serena Kaylor ~ 304 pages ~ published on June 18, 2024 by Wednesday Books

Goodreads Synopsis:

A calculus nerd enlists her surly classmate’s help to win back her ex-boyfriend, but when sparks start to fly, she realizes there’s no algorithm for falling in love.

Marlowe Thompson understands a lot of things. She understands that calculus isn’t overwhelmingly beautiful to everyone, and that it typically kills the mood when you try to talk Python coding over beer pong. She understands people were surprised when golden boy Josh asked her out and she went from weird, math-obsessed Marlowe to half of their school’s couple goals. Unfortunately, Marlowe was surprised when Josh dumped her because he’d prefer a girlfriend who was more romantic. One with emotional depth.

But Marlowe has never failed anything in her life, and she isn’t about to start now. When she’s paired with Ashton Hayes for an English project, his black clothing and moody eyeliner cause a bit of a systems overload, and the dissonant sounds of his rock band make her brain itch. But when she discovers Ash’s hidden stash of love songs, Marlowe makes a desperate deal to unleash her inner romantic heroine: if Ash will agree to help her write some love letters, she’ll calculate the perfect data analytics formula to make Ash’s band go viral.

As the semester heats up with yearning love notes and late nights spent with a boy who escapes any box her brain tries to put him in, Marlowe starts to question if there’s really a set solution to love. Could a girl who has never met a problem she couldn’t solve have gotten the math so massively wrong?

What I Thought:

*All of my reviews are spoiler-free!*

*I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. Thank you so much to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for this ARC!*

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links. This means that, at zero cost to you, I will earn an affiliate commission if you click through the link and finalize a purchase. 🥰

When I started this book, it struck me as a typical high school romance. The main character is dumped, and she asks another boy to help her win her ex back. But, this book has such surprising depth that it had me turning the pages faster than I could have ever expected!

Marlowe seems like your typical teen girl who has been dumped by her boyfriend. She is embarrassed and desperate to win him back. What I didn’t see coming was her autism diagnosis. She is very open about her struggles with typical social situations, as well as “appropriately” showing affection. I loved that this book discussed this topic so openly and honestly. I feel like it is fairly rare in YA to see the female main character struggle with autism. We see it a fair amount in male characters, so this was a refreshing change of pace for me.

Ash is my new favorite dark and moody teen. He puts up this moody and gruff persona, but he is really a sweet, sensitive little teddy bear on the inside (albeit one that is dressed in all black with smudgy eyeliner). I loved seeing Marlowe and Ash become friends and bring out sides of each other that they were afraid to show to the world.

Marlowe and Ash’s friends were so much fun, and I loved when they all started to intermingle. I liked that Marlowe’s friends were so supportive of her, even if they didn’t feel like she was making great decisions. Love a good female support system!

Overall, I thought this was such a sweet romance! It was a lovely story of finding yourself and not making your entire personality about who you happen to be dating. Not to sound like an old lady, but this is such an important message for teenage girls 🙂 Pick up this book if you want to read a great romance with some depth and lovely friendships.