If You Change Your Mind

Gr 8 Up–Harry is a rising high school senior and has one goal in mind: acceptance into the University of Southern California program to study screen-writing. Due to a GPA drop after Harry’s unexpected break-up with Grant, his popular boyfriend of the previous summer, Harry is convinced that the only way for him to get into USC is to win a screen-writing competition. To focus on his goals, he has sworn off boys for the summer, which Harry learns is easier said than done when he rescues Logan, who is visiting relatives for the summer, from an unfortunate hazing incident. Grant’s unexpected return to their small Florida town for the season, a secret Logan is keeping, and a medley of other teen rom-com drama staples pepper the plot, eased along by Harry’s romance trope awareness (courtesy of Nora Ephron movies). With snippets of Harry’s screenplay slotted in between chapters, which have titles that take inspiration from well-known genre films such as 10 Things I Hate About You, the story remains fresh despite comfortable predictability.