#BookReview ; Paulina & Fran by Rachel B. Glaser

At their New England art school, Paulina and Fran both stand apart from the crowd. Paulina is striking and sexually adventurous—a self-proclaimed queen bee with a devastating mean-girl streak. With her gorgeous untamed head of curly hair, Fran is quirky, sweet, and sexually innocent. An aspiring painter whose potential outstrips her confidence, she floats dreamily through criticisms and dance floors alike. On a school trip to Norway, the girls are drawn together, each disarmed by the other’s charisma.

Though their bond is instant and powerful, it’s also wracked by complications. When Fran winds up dating one of Paulina’s ex-boyfriends, an incensed Paulina becomes determined to destroy the couple, creating a rift that will shape their lives well past the halcyon days of art school.

Crackling with bon mots and knowing snapshots of that moment when the carefree cocoon of adolescence opens into the permanent, unknowable future, Paulina & Fran is both a sparkling dance party of a novel, and the debut novel of a writer with rare insight into the complexities of obsession, friendship, and prickly, ever-elusive love.

Paulina & Fran is a YA LGBT fiction written by Rachel B. Glaser. She is an American writer, poet & artist. She is the author of a collection of short stories, Pee on Water & MOODS, a book of poetry. In 2013, she received the McSweeney’s Amanda Davis Fiction Award.

As it is evident by the title itself the story is about Paulina & Fran, both are students at the New England Art School & are quite different from each other. While Paulina is fierce, outgoing & intentionally mean, Fran is timid, sweet & innocent. They both get drawn towards each other when their class was on a trip to Norway & they end up spending most of the time with each other, away from the rest of the students. But as their friendship strengthens Fran gets attracted towards a boy who happens to be Paulina’s ex-boyfriend & now Paulina wants to be with him again. Her mean streak starts to kick in as she decides to wreck their relationship even if that includes destroying her friendship with Fran. Get this book to know what happens next.

In her debut work Glaser has been successful to pen down real life like characters which makes this book interesting. Paulina comes out as unlikeable while Fran is a bit too innocent. Unfortunately the depth which I was expecting in the story wasn’t achieved, also some parts of the book were a bit unrealistic. The language is easy to comprehend which makes it an easy read, the title is simple & the cover is interesting as well. An intriguing read for sure!