I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

That’s the Stanford admissions prompt that valedictorian shoo-in Aisha Agarwal can’t answer. Comfort zone? Her life’s been homework and junk food for as long as she can remember. Not exactly the thing college essays are written about. So, when her crush, Brian, asks her to winter formal, Aisha thinks her fate is changing . . .

. . . until Brian stands her up.

As if on cue, a banged-up Volkswagen arrives outside the dance; the driver—a guy her age—profusely apologizing for being late to pick her up. Does Aisha know him or what he's talking about? No. Does the Stanford essay convince her to take him up on the ride? Absolutely.

To Aisha’s relief, seventeen-year-old Quentin Santos isn’t a kidnapper, but he is failing math. So, they strike a deal: If Aisha helps Quentin pass math, he’ll help push her out of her comfort zone, using a series of sticky note to-do’s—dares—that will not only give Aisha content for her essay but will turn her into the confident person she’s always wanted to be.

From New Year’s Eve kisses to high school parties, Aisha’s sticky note manifesto is taking off. But when she falls for the wrong guy, hurts her best friend, and still can’t finish her essay, victory feels far from reach. Is winning worth it if you end up losing yourself in the process?

Short and Sweet Review

After seeing the essay prompt for Stanford’s college application, “How have you gotten out of your comfort zone?” Aisha realizes she can’t answer that. When her crush Brian asks her to the Winter formal, Aisha thinks things are changing for her until she gets stood up. Outside of the formal a Volkswagen shows up and the driver Quentin apologizes for being late but Aisha doesn’t know him but she gets in the car anyway. After spilling her life story to him Aisha realizes she can help Quentin with math if he helps her do activities to get out of her comfort zone. While tackling her sticky note manifesto, Aisha ends up distancing herself from her best friend and falling for the wrong guy, and she starts to realize some things aren’t worth losing yourself over.

This book reminds me of a teen movie where a not so popular girl ends up getting more popular and ditching her best friends and starts to realize its not worth it (Mean Girls or Easy A), but in this case Aisha isn’t becoming more popular she’s just going out doing activities to impress a guy. Aisha has spent most of her life being studious and not doing much in the fun aspect, she’s even valedictorian. After reading to prompt she realizes that she has missed out on some aspects like going to a party, having a kiss, taking an art class. I think the book is predictable in the fact that Brian is not worth it, and we can tell he doesn’t have feelings for Aisha he stood her up in the first couple of chapters. I will say her being obsessed with Brian was a bit upsetting especially when she learned about how horrible he truly is. Quentin on the other hand falls for Aisha the more they spend time together and I loved how he was willing to help her. Quentin and Aisha’s relationship grows and they even scratch more than the surface when they start talking about their family life and fears they have. I enjoyed seeing Aisha do things she considered to be out of her comfort zone. Like I said earlier she does end up spending more time focusing on herself and she doesn’t notice her best friend and the things she’s going through. Throughout the book Aisha learns to balance her life and just focus on enjoying life but also spend time with those important to her.

Overall, this was a feel good book with a main character we get to see experience a lot of firsts and discover who she really is.