Rachael Allen

The moment Spencer meets Hope the summer before seventh grade, it's . . . something at first sight. He knows she's special, possibly even magical. The pair become fast friends, climbing trees and planning world travels. After years of being outshone by his older brother and teased because of his Tourette syndrome, Spencer finally feels like he belongs. But as Hope and Spencer get older and life gets messier, the clear label of "friend" gets messier, too. Through sibling feuds and family tragedies, new relationships and broken hearts, the two grow together and apart, and Spencer, an aspiring scientist, tries to map it all out using his trusty system of taxonomy. He wants to identify and classify their relationship, but in the end, he finds that life doesn't always fit into easy-to-manage boxes, and it's this messy complexity that makes life so rich and beautiful.

A Taxonomy of Love

Savannah Garrit

I really enjoyed this book and it made me think a lot about how my realtionships are with people. This book also emphasized that timing of relationships is really important and even though you might not think the timing is important, it is. Overall, this book was really cute. I loved how they talked so much about how Spencer dealt with his TS and they didn't just brush over it. I also really loved all the taxonomies were included throughout the book. I give this book 4 stars because I quite enjoyed this book.

Hope Brockway

I'm quite confused about this book.

On one hand, I liked it. 

It's set in my home state (why aren't there more books set in Georgia???) and the female protagonist is named Hope so I'm obviously thrilled about that. Oh, and Hope's kinda sorta obsessed with Broadway like I am so you can bet there are a lot of references. I legit flipped when Spencer started singing "Hamilton". Spencer is adorable and super sweet and Hope and Spencer were super cute together. I liked learning about Spencer's life and the struggles of Tourette's. 

But on the other hand, there were too many sexual references and cuss words and messy bits. Like constant talk of undergarments and sex and stuff I really don't want to read about. (But here I am, finished with the book??) 

And the jumping around. *sighs* 

I must admit, it was cool to see 13-year-old Spencer and Hope and their relationship then and see it progress throughout their teenage years. But at other times it seemed incomplete. I mean, I get it. You can't include everything, but some snapshots left me wanting more. And then moving from one chapter to the next consisted of me trying to figure out exactly what changed from one year to the next. 

Ms. Allen did do a good job of catching us up, though, but it was a bit disorienting at first to jump years and *bam* all these things have changed. 

So I dunno. I don't think this book was my cup of tea.

Eleanor Hoffmann 

A YA romance—with a sparkling commercial voice and a dash of science—that explores a relationship over six years The moment Spencer meets Hope the summer before seventh grade, it’s something at first sight. The pair become fast friends, climbing trees and planning world travels. After years of being outshone by his older brother and teased because of his Tourette syndrome, Spencer finally feels like he belongs. But as Hope and Spencer get older and life gets messier, the clear label of “friend” gets messier, too. Through sibling feuds and family tragedies, new relationships and broken hearts, the two grow together and apart, and Spencer, an aspiring scientist, tries to map it all out using his trusty system of taxonomy. He wants to identify and classify their relationship, but in the end, he finds that life doesn’t always fit into easy-to-manage boxes, and it’s this messy complexity that makes life so rich and beautiful.

A Taxonomy of Love

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