Dahlia Adler knows teenagers, so I’m not surprised Come as You Are works as well as it does – even if the teens she portrays in this book read as a little older than they should be. I’ve enjoyed both tomes Adler’s published so far, and this is another fun winner.

Everett Owen “Evie” Riley is in a pickle. Presumed to be male thanks to her name, she’s been accidentally placed in Rumson, an all-boys dormitory at the boarding school she’s just joined. But since she’s come to Camden to forget all about her broken heart and cheating ex-boyfriend Craig, she’s willing to put up with living with a bunch of boys. Did she mention that her sister Sierra was the co-cheater and her best friend, Claire, knew and did nothing about it? Yeah, Evie’s ready for a new start.

Awkward placement or not, Evie begins to make friends with both girls (Sabrina Grayson, who lives in a neighboring dorm) and boys – particularly bad boy Salem Grayson, Sabrina’s twin, who has a penchant for weed and being kicked out of other schools. Evie soon becomes known as The Rumson Girl, and her position in the dorm begets a reputation for her that she’s finally willing to live up to after everything she’s been through. She turns to Salem for help in becoming a “bad girl.” He says yes, if she’ll agree to help him tone down his own reputation in the hope of his staying at the school. Of course, things get complicated. 

A big warning to parents – this is suitable for readers who are roughly sixteen to seventeen, considering how much drugging and referenced underage sex and near-sex happens in this book. That’s also what knocks Come as you Are down from an A-read for me; Salem and Evie are supposed to be fifteen and sound seventeen, maybe even early collegiates. I know kids grow up fast these days, but wow.

I did like extremely sarcastic Evie and caustic Salem, however, and found them to be a perfect match. The boarding school atmosphere was a lot of fun, though it honestly felt more like college than high school. They’re realistically hypocritical (Evie in fact does something almost immediately to a new friend that her sister did to her) and that made them perfectly imperfect to follow. They’re not angels, and that makes them very likable.

There’s something irresistible about this book, in its teen movie-like look at the world. Only older teens should read Come as You Are, but if they do they’ll likely be entertained by its just-pre New Adult ways. If adults can stomach that these are fifteen year olds gamboling about, then they’ll like this one too.