The Thing I Didn't Know I Didn't Know

[D.]

Really had a time figuring out how to categorize this book. It's not YA, it doesn't fit the romance rules, so I guess it goes here.

The awkward, snarky boy who charmed me in Geography Club has grown, but maybe it's not accurate to say he's "grown up" because he's hit the dread age of twenty-three. That's the year most everyone loses their mind as they wonder if they're on the right track, if they know what they're doing and why they haven't already changed the world.

Mr. Hartinger effortlessly brings that struggle to the page with this book. Russel has grown comfortable with who he is as a person, but he's completely lost as far as a plan for the future. What makes that worse is that his two BFFs, Gunnar and Min, seem to have it all worked out.

So does his one-time paramour, Kevin Land, who comes back into his life to add even more confusion to Russel's life.

The only problem I experienced with the text was a certain amount of preachiness about some of the current big issues. I don't really care for that in books, myself. But I won't dispute the message is important.

I can't say this book delighted me the way Geography Club and Order of the Poison Oak did, but it was still a great read and a definite must for any and all the Russel fans.