That’s right, this week we’re finally heading into the Dessen-verse. Sarah Dessen is one of Young Adult Literature’s best, and in this episode, we are talking about her 1998 novel Someone Like You. This is a coming-of-age classic, with just about every single high school experience packed into something really heartfelt and special. We’re about to take you back through the nostalgia of being a teenager with falling in love, heartbreak, and arguing with your mom at a Pizza Hut buffet.

This week’s episode has it all: best friend talk, the (somehow common) experience of dating boys who refuse to wear socks, and lots of advice on what NOT to do when it comes to dating in your teens and twenties. Plus, we introduce the Crush Scale into To All the YA lore to keep track of the best (and worst) love interests the genre has to offer.

We found a highly relatable pairing with Sarah Dessen and Taylor Swift, which we explore in a comparative study on Someone Like You and “I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)” from The Tortured Poets Department.

Season 8, The Tortured YA Lit Department, is fueled by angst and some good Taylor Swift song dissection. If you’re only here for a discussion of this week’s book, Taylor Talk begins 1:08:00 minutes into the episode.

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Theme Music “Brat Pack”

https://get.slip.stream/cI6gXL