Promposal is a fantastic YA debut about needing to believe in ourselves. In what we feel, in our worth and what we know about others. If you love stories about second chances and love, but also growth keep reading this book review.
Summary
High school senior Autumn Reeves has been waitlisted at her dream school. Determined to move to the top of the list, she must find a way to stand out. When a promposal she planned for a friend has half the senior class asking for her help, a brilliant business idea that will look great on her application is Promposal Queen.
Autumn has no clue how to start a business, so she joins the Young Black Entrepreneurs group and finds herself face-to-face with Mekhi Winston, the boy whose unexpected freshman-year kiss—a kiss that meant everything to her and nothing to him—cost Autumn her best friend. He’s the only person with the experience to help her, but how can she possibly trust him?
With her dreams on the line, Autumn’s willing to risk it. After all, Mekhi could be a good business partner without being a guy she would ever let near her heart again.
But when working with Mekhi jeopardizes her only chance at rekindling a friendship with her ex-best-friend, and secrets long buried threaten to ruin Promposal Queen, another broken heart may be the least of her worries–her entire future is on the line.
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the author. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
For Autumn, when it rains it pours. I have enjoyed the ways in which YA Contemporary authors are exploring the pressures of getting into college. How it can impact the ways we see ourselves and our actions especially for teens. And Promposal fits right into the mix. Autumn knows she needs to do whatever she can get get off the wait list and so when she has to partner with her ex-crush to do so, she knows she has to agree.
Throughout Promposal one theme that emerges is the riskiness of love. How we not only never know if it will pan out, but also our own motivations. And for Autumn, her journey in the story is about assumptions and doubts. All the ways in which not listening to what we think and allowing rumors and insecurities to control what we think. Additionally, what if we are allowing the past, the history, and the mistakes to bias ourselves forever?
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Promposal questions if we can change our opinions. We can be so focused on people ‘proving’ themselves, but part of that is about belief. About whether we have it wrong and have the bravery to admit it. Alongside that, Autumn has to learn to take pride in her own work, her own worth, and see the ways in which she’s also trying to prove herself. While I felt the ending was a bit hasty, I deeply enjoyed Garrett’s debut. It’s a story that ended up sticking with me after finishing. Find Promposal on Goodreads, Storygraph, Amazon, Bookshop.org, & Blackwells.