WHO'S THAT GIRL

When seventeen-year-old Nattie realizes that the Young Lungs’ new hit song, “Natalie,” is about her, she makes it her mission to track down her former-crush-turned-lead-singer before her life gets turned upside down. A sparkling contemporary realistic novel from a savvy debut author.

It is junior year and Natalie McCullough-Schwartz just found out that her crush from last summer, Sebastian Delacroix — a smoking-hot musician who, as it happens, went to her high school — is back in Philly to play a show with his band. This must be the universe telling Nattie to make contact. Again.

Okay, so they never officially locked lips, but there was that awkward moment at the pool party last summer when Sebastian touched her face. Just another kiss-less memory in Nattie’s life — the first was with her good friend Zach the Anarchist (not to be confused with her other good friend, Tall Zach, who is totally gay and not the least bit into her).

When Nattie discovers that the Young Lungs’ new hit single is named after her, she sees it as evidence of Sebastian’s interest...right? But then there are the confusing feelings that have been sneaking up on her whenever she is with Zach the Anarchist — a fun are-we-bickering-or-are-we-flirting vibe that she cannot seem to shake and sort of enjoys.

As “Natalie” gets major play on the radio, people start to guess Nattie’s identity as the “Natalie,” but whenever she reaches out to Sebastian about it, he will not even answer her messages. And the icing on the cake, so to speak, is the added pressure of helping her best friend, Tess, raise enough bake sale money to secure a venue for their LGBTQI Alliance dance. Tess, in the middle of coming out to her parents, is completely stressed over it, leaving Nattie on her own to figure out the boy stuff. With her once-normal life upended, Nattie questions whether her brief encounter with Sebastian was the stuff love songs are made of—or just a one-hit-wonder?

COMP TO BOY MEETS BOY AND NICK & NORAH’S INFINITE PLAYLIST: Blair Thornburgh nails all the necessary YA musts in Who’s That Girl with ease: snarky, laugh-out-loud humor; swoon-worthy leading male(s); friendships under strain; confusing romantic feelings; an eccentric-and-seemingly-impossible mission that may or may not include a road trip; and one big gay dance party to finish it all off. Her voice is spot-on, her characters are completely unforgettable, and the plot is full of fun and quintessential teen moments.

LGBT-FRIENDLY: With shades of Openly Straight and Simon Vs. the Homosapiens Agenda, this novel features a cast of characters who run the school’s LGBTQI alliance. The queer characters are never the target of any sort of discrimination, they are just as matter-of-fact a presence as the straight characters are in this book’s lovable ensemble.

Blair Thornburgh writes stories for and about smart teenagers. A graduate of the University of Chicago and a student at Hamline University’s MFA program in Writing for Children and Young Adults, she lives in Philadelphia. This is her first novel.