Day’s YA: IN THE ORBIT OF YOU

IN THE ORBIT OF YOU by Ashley Schumacher
9781250886040
2/19/2024
Wednesday Books
Ages 13-18

E-galley available on Edelweiss and NetGalley

Sam and Nova were the best of friends growing up. They would often play in Nova’s backyard, watching over their town of “Snailopolis” (a miniature city of snails) they’d built together. But Sam’s homelife was always mysterious to Nova–she only ever saw the bruises and burns on his body that he never wanted to explain. When Sam told her he was moving away to live with his aunt and uncle, they promised they’d find each other again when they turned eighteen. 

Years later, Nova is sick of moving around every few months for her mother’s job. At only 17, she has already transferred schools numerous times and has never had the chance to create lasting friendships, let alone figure out who she herself is. So now, at yet another new high school, she’s determined to finally find herself. But then she bumps into Sam, who couldn’t be more different than the little boy she knew all those years ago. He now has loving and supportive parents, is a star football player (with a college scholarship lined up), and is dating a cheerleader. And each of them is dead-set on not having their plans ruined by the other.

But then a personality test reveals them to have a record-breaking level of compatibility with each other–99% to be exact! Whether they like it or not, fate forces them back together and they must face whatever is between them head-on. Turns out, they still make great friends and they may even be headed for something more. But Nova still hasn’t found herself and Sam is wrapped up with football and his relationship with his girlfriend. Although Sam and Nova are convinced nothing could ever work out between them, they can’t seem to stay away from each other. 

The dynamic between Nova and Sam is wonderfully complex, and Schumacher does an excellent job of exploring the relationship between childhood friendship and trauma. Even though Nova and Sam have each changed quite a bit over the years, they realize the same basic traits that made them compatible as kids still make them who they are today. The way in which these two friends navigate the push and pull between their own desires and others’ expectations of them is nuanced and relatable. They each grow immensely over the course of the novel, and the blend of tragedy and hope will pull at any reader’s heartstrings. Fans of ELEANOR & PARK by Rainbow Rowell, YOU HAVE A MATCH by Emma Lord, and THE GIRL HE USED TO KNOW by Tracey Garvis Graves will especially enjoy this one!

Happy reading!
<3 Michelle

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