Finally Fitz
Marisa Kanter
Simon & Schuster
Published April 23, 2024
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About Finally Fitz
A bisexual teen girl tries to make her ex jealous by faking an Instagram romance that leads to surprisingly real feelings in this hijinks-filled rom-com perfect for fans of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before and She Gets the Girl .
Ava “Fitz” Fitzgerald has worked hard to create the picture-perfect life she’s always wanted. She spent her junior year transforming her passion for sustainable fashion and upcycling into a viral online platform, maintaining a 4.0 GPA, and spending every free second with her soon-to-graduate girlfriend, Danica. And this summer she plans to take it all to the next level by attending a prestigious summer fashion program in New York City and convincing Dani that they can survive a year of long distance.
But when Dani dumps her before classes even start, accusing Fitz of being more invested in growing her online persona than deepening their relationship, she’s left not only heartbroken, but also creatively blocked.
Fitz will do anything to win Dani back, even if that means taking a break from the platform that she’s worked so hard to build. But just as she decides to go all-in on a hiatus, a chance encounter reunites her with Levi Berkowitz, her childhood best friend that she hasn’t seen since elementary school. Levi is struggling with heartbreak of his own, and this cosmic coincidence sparks a new use for her social media savvy. Fitz offers to help Levi craft a fake relationship online to make his person jealous…if in return he can pretend to be her boyfriend in front of Dani to make her jealous. If all goes according to plan, by the end of the summer they’ll both be reunited with their perfect partners and get to rekindle their friendship in the process.
Sometimes even the most carefully designed plans can come apart at the seams, though. And when real history leads to not-so-fake feelings, Fitz will have to decide if she’s finally willing to let go of what she thought was picture-perfect and choose what might actually be right for her.
My Review
Finally my review for Finally Fitz! Oy. This book has been on my reading list since I received a finished copy from Simon & Schuster way back in April. I read What I Like About You by Marisa Kanter, so I had a pretty good feeling that I would enjoy a lot of things about this one, too, once I finally got around to reading it. And I was right.
This one started slowly for me. It took me a while to understand Fitz and really get her. In some ways, that makes perfect sense since the whole book is about how she filters herself with everyone in her life. She worries that the minute she shows her real, messy self, it’ll be too much, and people will shut her down, walk away, or deflect. Because people have done all those things.
As I started to grasp that about Fitz, I started to see the way that her sisters have left her behind (which made me want to call my littlest sister) and the way that people brush off her interest in fashion and designing clothes. It was heartbreaking. And heartbreaking. So once I hit that point, I was pretty invested in the story.
I love the relationship between Fitz and Levi. They celebrate one another’s passions and victories. They enjoy being along for the ride with the other person, even if there’s nothing in it for them. But they also know when to give one another space and be independent. They have a really cool relationship arc.
Fitz and her sisters have a cool arc, too. I like that their relationships are messy, but there’s real love there. And they keep trying. I love that.
By the middle of the book, I couldn’t read this story fast enough. It was so much fun and such a great celebration of being true to yourself and getting the support you need.
Content Notes
Recommended for Ages 14 up.
Representation
Fitz and her family as well as another character are Jewish. Dani, Fitz’s girlfriend, is Latine. Fitz and another character identify as bisexual. There are a few other queer characters.
Profanity/Crude Language Content
This one has some F-bombs. Strong profanity used pretty frequently.
Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between two girls. Kissing between a boy and girl.
Spiritual Content
Fitz attends a Shabbat service with Levi. References to her bat mitzvah.
Violent Content
None.
Drug Content
References to teens drinking beer. (We don’t see them drink, but they clean up after watching a movie and throw away empty beer bottles.)
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