I discovered Maureen Johnson a few months ago when she live tweeted the “rapture” on May 21.  If you read nothing else by this brilliant author read that.  (But good luck finding it.  There has got to be some tool on the internet that will collect and categorize past tweets but I have yet to find it.)   If you want more and you are a fan of teen lit, I would suggest her second novel, The Bermudez Triangle. 

The Bermudez Triangle is the story of three friends, Mel, Nina and Avery.  It takes place in upstate New York, the summer before their senior year.  While Nina, the smart one, goes away to a special college program for smart kids at Stanford University, Mel and Avery hook up.  Yes, Mel and Avery are girls.  Yes the story is about young lesbian love.  No, it’s not graphic. 

What happens when two teenaged girls hook up?  Pretty much the same thing that happens with a teenaged boy and girl hook up.  They become inseparable and make out a lot.  The challenge for Mel and Avery is that they keep their relationship a secret from almost everyone, including Nina who only finds out after she catches them kissing in the dressing room of J. Crew. 

While Nina is somewhat shaken by this discovery about her two best friends she takes it a lot better than I would have at 17.  Her character lends her as the stabilizing force for the three friends as the story progresses.  She is also the subject of my favorite line in the book:

She tried to strike a balance between party wear and casual, but she’d ended up dressing like a paralegal.”

The Bermudez Triangle is a great book that I would recommend to anyone is a fan of teen lit.  If you know a gay teen who wants to look like a paralegal, even better.