Paul Walden is just trying to make sense of life. After all, it’s not easy being a teenage boy. He worries about things like death and if he’s looking sharp enough, and he spends way too much time thinking about girls.

As Paul navigates high school friendships, his parents’ divorce, first love and first loss, he has to confront some of life’s biggest questions, and learn what really matters most.

A welcome story from an author with a keen understanding of the concerns of those on the verge of adulthood, this is a boy’s answer to Sarah Dessen’s novels.