Cover reveal! Booksmart meets Never Have I Ever in this debut YA rom-com from Talia Tucker about two Korean American teens forced into a shared college visit road trip where they discover that the reasons they’ve been rivals their entire lives might actually be signs they’re a perfect pair.

Winter Park and Bobby Bae are Korean American high school juniors whose families have been friends since the kids were making crayon art. They, however, are repulsed by each other.

Winter is MIT-bound, comfortable keeping people at arm’s length, and known by others as responsible, though she has a desire to let loose. This probably comes from her rebel grandmother, who is constantly pushing boundaries and encouraging Winter to do so as well. Winter’s best friend is moving abroad and won’t be attending college at all, and Winter’s wrestling with what it means to be left behind. Bobby is as Type-A, anxious, and risk-averse as you can get. He’s also been recently dumped, which has him feeling disoriented and untethered.

That’s why, when Winter’s and Bobby’s parents insist that they go on a northeast college campus tour together, both teens find reasons to accept even though the thought of being stuck in a car together for 700 miles sounds unbearable. What awaits them is a journey of self-discovery where the only rule on their road trip is to break all the rules. At first, this happens in hilariously calculated ways (using lists and reason and logic!), but they soon abandon that, challenging each other to dares in Virginia, getting high and wandering Philly for food—and battling the subsequent digestive distress—and crashing a party in Cambridge. And, of course, realizing that they’re perfect together.

Scroll down to see the cover and read a sneak peek! And remember to preorder your copy.

Cover art by Minji Kwon, cover design by Kaitlin Yang

We Will Not Be Friends

Winter Park

The term “family friend” implied said friend was a friend to the entire family; therefore, the term was decidedly a bullshit one. At least as it applied to Bobby Bae and Winter Park, nemeses since the ninth grade. Or first grade, if you ask Winter.

They were the only two Asian kids in their school, so they were frequently on the receiving end of comments like “I didn’t know you were allowed to have more than one kid in China”—which was problematic because one: They were not related, and two: They were Korean. It was either that or the ever-persistent assumption they were dating.

Winter hated spending time with someone as uptight as Bobby Bae. Yet, when she asked her parents if she could visit MIT over summer break, he was their first choice to accompany her.

“No,” Winter said plainly. “Just because you and Bobby’s family are best friends doesn’t make us friends.”

Their parents had met when Bobby’s family moved from New Jersey to North Carolina. It was during a back-to-school night when Winter’s parents, who had formerly been the only Asian parents in the PTO, spotted the Baes from across the room and adopted them as their so-called family friends. Since then, it’d been all sunshine and Melona bars for their parents. However, for Winter and Bobby, if their relationship had a mascot, it’d be an eye roll.

Winter’s father wrinkled his nose. “You both are too competitive. It’s always something with you—class rank, attendance, even marching band.”

“Because he’s such a try-hard for no reason,” Winter huffed. “And what’s wrong with a little competition?”

“You’re usually on the same team,” her mother replied. “We don’t need to have this conversation again. We’re well aware of your rules.”

Of course her parents knew the rules, but Winter feared steam would come out of her ears if she tried to hold in the reminder and refrain from further slandering Bobby. Multitasking wasn’t one of her strong suits. She took in a sharp breath and was not surprised when her parents’ voices echoed her own. “We will play nice in front of our parents. We will not be seen talking to each other at school. We will not meet outside of school,” the three chanted in unison.

“It’s a legally binding contract!” Winter said. Bobby had even tried to get it notarized at one point, but the notary refused on account of it having been written in crayon.

“Then your mother and I can sue because you gave up on rule number one years ago,” Appa said. “And how many amendments have you added since then? Forty?”

Winter’s shoulders tensed as she said in a defeated tone, “I would rather walk to Massachusetts than be stuck in a car for eighteen hours with Bobby Bae.”