Enore Adesuwa doesn’t dive into things, she walks in carefully. So when she, her mother, and her sister move from Nigeria shortly after her father’s death, she wants to be extremely prepared before attending high school in America. Her cousin doesn’t have time to explain the ins and outs to her but, luckily, he recommends the perfect research tool: teen movies.

Still dealing with grief but armed with a set of rules of survival gathered from these movies (including the crucial rule of keeping a low profile), Enore is ready for her senior year. But when she meets Davi Santiago, it may be much harder than she thought to keep to her rules. Because not only is he super thoughtful (and okay, very good looking), he constantly encourages her to share her incredible singing talent. Enore prefers the background but it just might be time for her to take center stage, even in spite of her mother’s strict expectations.

It would be easier to follow all the rules, the ones Enore set for herself and the ones her mom imposes, but as every teen movie has taught her, a coming-of-age is nothing without a little rebellion. And with help from her crush, her sister, and some new friends who don’t quite play the roles she expects, Enore’s senior year might indeed be cinematic!

This was a sweet coming of age YA as one may guess from the summary. After her father’s death, Enore’s natural introvertedness and grief makes her a shut-in when she moves to Bellwood, NY. She sees it as caution. She prepares herself with copious teen movies and has set ten simple rules to survive her new high school below the radar.

She ends up breaking most of them in typical rebellious teen fashion thanks to Davi Santiago who’s steadfast belief in her talent and support in her grief pushes her to consider a path not laid out by her mother’s expectations and find the confidence in her voice, the confidence and opportunity her father hoped she’d find in America.

The book is a bit predictable at points, but it has a soothing, fluffy predictableness to it. It’s a feel-good novel with thoughtful points depicting how grief and passion can worm under your skin, changing who you are and what you think you want. You find things you can’t live without and those who you believed you couldn’t live without but slowly find happiness in their memory and new friends. Plus her percptions of people in her high school based on teen movies are a little one-dimensional she soon figures out.

What sets the story apart is Enore’s upbringing in Nigeria and how the rules of American rebellion and following your passions don’t apply when it comes to what she’s able to do. Things like having a boyfriend and going to parties weren’t a thing in Nigeria so when she gets to do that in America, she feels a new sense of freedom that makes her greedy for more. On the other hand, disappointing her mother has more cultural and emotional weight than it does in the U.S. and when her lies and rule-breaking snowballs, she believes it makes her a selfish daughter and family member.

Furthermore, it’s interesting to see how she navigates her new identity as being black in America. In Nigeria, she was the norm, in the US, she’s a minority and the microaggressions and erasure in media makes her realize that life in the US isn’t all musical theater and snowy days, and this new experience of her skin color being the defining part of her is something she will have to get used to.

Enore’s sister, Enosa was such a fiery joy to read, and I enjoyed the very supportive, almost drama free relationship she shares with Davi as they become each other’s safe spaces and bond over shared lunches.

4 stars.