Ros Demir Is Not the One

Gr 9 Up–Ros Demir, 16, can dive into a cold lake in the dark on a dare but lacks the confidence to ask Lydia, her best friend since childhood, why she spread the nasty falsehood at summer camp that froze their relationship two years ago. She’s alienated her current bestie, Eleanor, by planting an impulsive kiss on Eleanor’s secret crush to make someone else jealous. This likable debut features a heroine who’s almost as hard to take as the wealthy Connecticut suburbanites who make Ros uncomfortable, right down to the ripped jean cut-offs and crop top she wears for a cookout at Pine Bay—a fancy resort where the dress code dictates white capris and pink or blue polos. Ros just wants to get ahead in this stuffy community, until newcomer Aydin Muhtar makes her question why. He embraces his Turkish identity with a love of its cuisine and a facility for its language, while she’s less secure in her own heritage, which is a mix of Scottish and Turkish. She tweezes her thick “Turkish” eyebrows, for example, unconvinced by her family of their beauty. The settings of this elite culture—Pine Bay and Bardet, the private high school where Ros must run a successful campaign to win the coveted fall homecoming queen title—drag the plot of this otherwise thoughtful character study of Ros, who becomes her own person as she notices and begins to appreciate the individuality of those around her.