Ivy and Mack were best friends, but are no longer on speaking terms after a big blow-up argument; instead, Ivy hangs out with Henry, and they can geek out over H-MAD, a fantasy show that Mack was never a fan of like Ivy is. Then Ivy's parents leave on a trip, and late at night during a thunderstorm, Ivy writes a fan-fic... that comes to life. Yes, Weston, the main character of H-MAD is in her home and not leaving, because clearly they're meant to be together. At first, Ivy thinks this is great, but it turns out to be a complicated development, not least because her parents are supposed to be back in a couple of days.

Very cute, funny sapphic friends-to-enemies-to-lovers romance told in alternating chapters of past and present, so we get both the events leading up to the big fight and what happens after Weston arrives. Ivy and Mack's big fight is, well, basically about communication but it's done in a really believable way for a couple of high schoolers navigating complicated feelings and social drama. Both Ivy and her mom appear to have anxiety, though it's expressed in different ways. Writers/readers of fan fic may enjoy it even more than I did for references to tropes. ( )

Okay. Listen. I understand that the "how?! and why?!" of it all of the basic plot-propellant of this novel—imaginary fanfic version of a character comes to life and the author of that fanfic has to deal with it; wackiness ensues—is secondary to the emotional growth of the characters and all. But we all agree this is an insane thing to happen in an otherwise normal world, right? And to just never address it! And never explain it!! And when all is said and done for all the characters to know about it to just massively shrug!!! I couldn't get past it, I'm sorry, it was just too weird for such an otherwise emotionally grounded book—if everything was like 40% wackier I could let it go, but the whole rest of the book was about like, wildly normal stuff and big, important feelings. Weird choices were made here! ( )