by Rainbow Rowell and Faith Erin Hicks
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: It’s a friendship story and a little bit of romance, but it’s more sweet than anything. It’s in the graphic novel section of the bookstore, but I’d give it to 6-8th graders, if they were interested.

I picked this up because of the authors, and because it looks, well, cute. And it definitely lived up to that: Josiah and Deja are “seasonal best friends”: every fall, they work at the local pumpkin patch attraction through Halloween. They’ve been working in the succotash barn since freshman year, enjoying time together. Except Josiah has always gone on about the “Fudge Shop Girl” that he’s had a seasonal crush on every year. This year is different: it’s the last night of their their last fall; next year they’re off to college and won’t be able to work the pumpkin patch. So Deja decides: Josiah is going to talk to the Fudge Shop girl, and let her know how he feels.

Except, things get derailed: everyone is moved around, and Josiah and Deja spend the evening taking in the pumpkin patch for the last time as they reminisce about their years at the pumpkin patch.

It’s homey and sweet and cute and just a warm pumpkin spice hug of a book. Nothing spectacular (except that Deja is not your typical rom-com lead: she’s black and tall and not slim at all!) but it is charming. And worth picking up.