What to Say Next by Julie Buxbaum

Title: What to Say Next
Author: Julie Buxbaum
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Publication date: July 11, 2017
Pages: 272
Source/format: ARC from Emma of Missprint as part of the ARC adoption feature

Rating: ☆☆☆☆ 

Synopsis (from goodreads.com):

From the New York Times bestselling author of Tell Me Three Things comes a charming and poignant story about two struggling teenagers who find an unexpected connection just when they need it most. For fans of Sophie Kinsella, Jennifer Niven, and Rainbow Rowell.

Sometimes a new perspective is all that is needed to make sense of the world.

KIT: I don’t know why I decide not to sit with Annie and Violet at lunch. It feels like no one here gets what I’m going through. How could they? I don’t even understand.

DAVID: In the 622 days I’ve attended Mapleview High, Kit Lowell is the first person to sit at my lunch table. I mean, I’ve never once sat with someone until now. “So your dad is dead,” I say to Kit, because this is a fact I’ve recently learned about her.

When an unlikely friendship is sparked between relatively popular Kit Lowell and socially isolated David Drucker, everyone is surprised, most of all Kit and David. Kit appreciates David’s blunt honesty—in fact, she finds it bizarrely refreshing. David welcomes Kit’s attention and her inquisitive nature. When she asks for his help figuring out the how and why of her dad’s tragic car accident, David is all in. But neither of them can predict what they’ll find. Can their friendship survive the truth?

M Y  T H O U G H T S

David Drucker was surprised that Kit Lowell sat next to him during lunch. Although they are complete opposites of one another, they are able to start a meaningful friendship. Julie Buxbaum is able to tell a genuine story about a guy who is on the spectrum and a biracial girl who just lost her father in a car accident. Although there is a loss in the story and Kit is overwhelmed with grief, she finds solace in David.

What to Say Next is told in first person dual narrative. Julie Buxbaum is able to tell a story through the eyes of David and Kit and what obstacles they have to overcome everyday. She describes what David has to go through as the "weird" kid with the super popular sister. Kit, on the other hand, is going through tough times after she lost her dad but she also is having a hard time reconnecting with her current friends. Buxbaum also touches upon what it means to be biracial in an almost all white community and how families interact when races collide through Kit.

I love how David has his quirky moments and how he jots down things in his notebook. Although many people see David as different, he doesn't pay much mind to others. He marches to the rhythm of his own drum and finds ways to occupy his time. Kit finds out that she is a changed person after the death of her father and is trying to find herself. What to Say Next reminds readers that every cloud has a silver lining. Although there are obstacles and tough times in life, there is always something positive that can some out of it.

What to Say Next is a light read that will remind readers that there is always light in darkness and that opposites can be friends and sometimes even something more. Contemporary lovers will enjoy this novel. There is even a dash of mystery for the curious and a slight twist at the end.