Finding Jupiter by Kelis Rowe

Welcome Back, Booklovers! I'm been anticipating Finding Jupiter since she pitched it a few years back in Pitch Wars. I loved the mood board she didwith the Black kids and roller skating even though I can't skate. Plus it's always good to see more Black teens falling in love in YA. I recieved an arc from Randomhouse Children's in exchange for an honest review.

Ray and Orion meet at the skating rink and there's an instant attraction. Orion is heading off to Howard in a few weeks while Ray is going back to boarding school in Rhode Island so they're determined to spend as much time as possible together getting to know each other.

This was a cute love story if you don't mind the characters falling hard and fast. I thought .they had great chemistry together that really carried this book. I liked that Orion was the softer one while Ray was afraid of showing her emotions. I'm seeing more of that lately and it's a nice change. I liked how she weaved in Ray's blackout poetry

I didn't like how there was this constant pushing them as old souls which I find overprevalent in YA. Pop culture is tough to include in books at at time this felt bogged down by it. Especially since so many songs were older songs the teens wouldn't even be familiar with. The most current ones I could recall were Beyonce and Drake ones that were still from like 10 years back. And Ray prefers cds to Spotify playlists and that aspect felt very dated too. Especially when she whipped out a Sade cd for them to have sex to. Do the teens even know who Sade is? That along with other pop culture references at times made this story felt written during my high school years instead of a debut published this year.

There's a mystery aspect here surrounding Ray's father which I liked but it could've been better paced because it took a backseat to them loving on each other for awhile before starting back up. But it did keep me engaged with the story and elevate it.  I also liked how the reveal and fallout was written. I liked the message about communication and healing in this book. It tackles two very different situations with grief and loss. Ray is dealing with grief over her father's death but he died the day she was born so she never got to meet him and actually form a relationship. And I haven't seen that type of relationship explored in books often.