A parent might reach for this book when their teen is pushing for more independence and dreaming of life after high school. It’s for the teen who feels their life is boring and craves the chance to reinvent themselves. The story follows two best friends who trade a supervised college tour for a secret, unsupervised spring break in New York City. Their adventure is a mix of exhilarating freedom and complicated reality, testing their friendship and their ideas about adulthood. It explores themes of identity, loyalty, and the gap between expectations and reality. Appropriate for ages 14 and up, this book offers a fun, relatable narrative that normalizes the desire for autonomy while also showing the natural consequences of choices, making it a great starting point for conversations about trust and growing up.
A parent might reach for this book when their teen is pushing for more independence and dreaming of life after high school. It’s for the teen who feels their life is boring and craves the chance to reinvent themselves. The story follows two best friends who trade a supervised college tour for a secret, unsupervised spring break in New York City. Their adventure is a mix of exhilarating freedom and complicated reality, testing their friendship and their ideas about adulthood. It explores themes of identity, loyalty, and the gap between expectations and reality. Appropriate for ages 14 and up, this book offers a fun, relatable narrative that normalizes the desire for autonomy while also showing the natural consequences of choices, making it a great starting point for conversations about trust and growing up.
Characters attend parties where alcohol is consumed; a character gets mildly drunk.
Romantic ContentMild
Kissing and romantic subplots are present, but nothing is explicit.
Sensitive Topics
The central premise is built on the protagonists' elaborate deception of their parents. The approach is direct and treats the lie as a necessary, if flawed, vehicle for their journey toward self-discovery. The resolution is realistic: they are eventually caught and face consequences, but the experience ultimately leads to a more mature understanding with their parents. There are mild references to underage drinking at parties, presented as a normalized aspect of the teen social scene. The overall resolution is hopeful.
Ideal Reader
A 15 or 16-year-old who feels micromanaged and is counting the days until they can leave for college. This reader deeply values their best friendship but might also be feeling the first signs of it changing as they develop different interests and prepare for separate futures.
Parent Prep
The book can be read cold, but parents should be aware that the protagonists lie consistently and are rewarded with a life-changing trip (before facing consequences). It's an excellent book to spark a conversation about trust, communication, and how teens can earn more freedom in a safe way. No specific pages require a preview. A parent hears their teen saying things like, "I can't wait to get out of this town," or, "You treat me like a baby, I wish I could just be on my own." The teen is chafing against rules and expressing a strong desire for autonomy.
Age Experience
A younger reader (14-15) will likely connect with the escapist fantasy: the thrill of the city, the romance, and the adventure of breaking the rules. An older reader (16-18), closer to leaving home themselves, will likely identify more with the complex friendship dynamics, the anxiety about the future, and the more subtle theme of discovering that true independence comes with unexpected responsibilities.
What Makes It Special
Unlike many YA novels where romance is the primary driver, this book centers the female friendship between Hailey and Harper. It uniquely captures the specific teen fantasy of running away to a big city to 'find yourself', treating this desire with both wish-fulfillment and a gentle dose of reality. The conflict is less about external dangers and more about the internal and interpersonal challenges of growing up.
Read plot summary
High school seniors and best friends Hailey and Harper, feeling trapped by their parents and suburban lives, concoct a lie to escape. They tell their parents they are on a supervised East Coast college tour for spring break, but instead fly to New York City to stay with Harper's older sister. They spend the week trying to live out their fantasy of a grown-up, independent life. Their adventure is complicated by romantic interests, dwindling funds, and, most significantly, their differing expectations for the trip, which puts their lifelong friendship to the test.
This overview was generated by AI based on the book's content and reviews, and may not capture every nuance.
Discussion Prompts
1
Hailey and Harper have very different ideas about what freedom means. Hailey wants structure while Harper wants spontaneity. Whose approach did you agree with more, and why?
2
The girls lie to their parents to go on the trip. Do you think they were justified? What could they have done differently to get the independence they wanted?
3
At one point, the girls' friendship is seriously tested by their different expectations for the trip. What do you think is the most important quality for keeping a friendship strong when people start to change?
4
What did Hailey and Harper learn about the difference between their fantasy of life in New York City and the reality of it?
5
Do you think the consequences the girls faced when they got home were fair? What would have been a fair consequence in your opinion?
