I love Rainbow Rowell and I love fall, so when I saw she had come out with a graphic novel that’s basically a celebration of fall, I knew I was going to read it eventually. Honestly, I can’t believe I didn’t run out and buy it right away. I probably put off buying it knowing I have too many books sitting on my shelf and I might never get around to reading this one, even though it’s a graphic novel, so it takes no time at all to read.
The book is about two friends, Josiah (Josie) and Deja, who have worked together at their local pumpkin patch every fall since they started high school. Now it’s Halloween of their senior year, which means it’s their last day working at the pumpkin patch.
Ever since they started work at the Pumpkin Patch, Josie has had a crush on a girl who works in the fudge shop, even though he’s never talked to her and doesn’t even know her name. Since tonight is his last chance to talk to her, and Deja is sick of listening to him idealize a girl he doesn’t even know, she’s decided that tonight is the night he’s finally going to talk to Fudge Girl. She comes up with a plan to switch shifts so Josie can work in the fudge shop with her, but she switched with someone else and is working in another part of the Pumpkin Patch altogether.
Deja ends up talking Josie into skipping work so they can track down Fudge Girl and he can finally talk to her, and the evening turns into a series of unfortunate events and near misses as someone tells them Fudge Girl was in one place and the arrive, only to find out she’s moved on to another place altogether.
Of course their adventures take them all over the Pumpkin Patch because why wouldn’t it? Also, Josie at one point suspects Deja’s true goal is to eat all her favorite fall treats in one night, and I am all for that goal. Also, I totally want to try to make a Pumpkin Bomb. I’m not even sure it’s physically possible, but I’m going to try. I’ll keep you posted.
Josie does finally manage to track down Fudge Girl and actually talk to her and it turns out she’s completely wrong for him. He genuinely loves everything about fall and the Pumpkin Patch, whereas she thinks the whole thing is corny. It isn’t until she starts talking about how she’s going to miss hanging out with her friends that Josie realizes he really just wants to spend his time with Deja, who has obviously had a crush on him all along, but he’s been too obsessed with some other random girl to notice. He does make it back to Deja before she leaves so they can confess their feelings to each other and decide to find out what hanging out as more than friends would be like.
The book is adorable and I loved every bit of it.