Why do you need to read Emily Horner's A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend? I've got 5 reasons right here.

1) The protagonist is a girl. Who crushes on girls. But unlike a lot of novels about LGBTQ teens, this one lets her story unfold subtly and simply. Cass’s sexuality isn’t some big reveal, just one more piece of the story, floating just out of view until it finally comes into view.

2) The characters are ACTUAL NERDS. Plenty of characters in YA fiction claim to be nerds, but how many back it up by performing a musical called Totally Sweet Ninja Death Squad?

3) We talk about succeeding against all odds, but what about when the odds are against you and you don’t succeed? Without giving too much away, I’ll say that Cass isn’t able to achieve all of the goals she sets for herself. And in the end, that makes for a much more interesting and complicated story.

4) It's about grief. And healing. If you’re the kind of reader who cries at sad parts, or at bittersweet parts, you’ll cry here.

5) Biking. Quakers. Fake blood. High school theater. First relationships. All in one book! And it works!