The Calculation of You and Me Review

by Serena Kaylor

Rating: 5/5

A calculus nerd enlists her surly classmate’s help to win back her ex-boyfriend, but when sparks start to fly, she realizes there’s no algorithm for falling in love.

Marlowe Thompson understands a lot of things. She understands that calculus isn’t overwhelmingly beautiful to everyone, and that it typically kills the mood when you try to talk Python coding over beer pong. She understands people were surprised when golden boy Josh asked her out and she went from weird, math-obsessed Marlowe to half of their school’s couple goals. Unfortunately, Marlowe was surprised when Josh dumped her because he’d prefer a girlfriend who was more romantic. One with emotional depth.

But Marlowe has never failed anything in her life, and she isn’t about to start now. When she’s paired with Ashton Hayes for an English project, his black clothing and moody eyeliner cause a bit of a systems overload, and the dissonant sounds of his rock band make her brain itch. But when she discovers Ash's hidden stash of love songs, Marlowe makes a desperate deal to unleash her inner romantic heroine: if Ash will agree to help her write some love letters, she’ll calculate the perfect data analytics formula to make Ash's band go viral.

As the semester heats up with yearning love notes and late nights spent with a boy who escapes any box her brain tries to put him in, Marlowe starts to question if there’s really a set solution to love. Could a girl who has never met a problem she couldn’t solve have gotten the math so massively wrong?

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I absolutely adored this love story! And has easily become my current favorite when it comes to high school romances! It was just so freaking cute!

We follow Marlowe, who’s on the spectrum as she navigates high school and love. Her boyfriend breaks up with her right before summer break which she took as meaning just a break. So when they get back to school and he wants nothing to do with her, she’s heartbroken and feels broken. Claiming she wasn’t romantic enough, and telling her that not everyone is capable of being romantic. She wants to fight for him, win him back, and prove him wrong, that she can be capable of being romantic. She enlists the help of the school outcast, Ashton to teach her how to be romantic. But the more time she spends with Ashton, she struggles to decide what she truly wants.

As romances go, the story arc was not unpredictable in the slightest. But I ate it up regardless. I finished this in a single sitting! I just could not put it down, it was so cute.

I found Marlowe to be adorable to follow, with all her quirks and interesting fixations. But she was incredibly sweet as well. And so were her friends! Who all encouraged Marlowe to do and go for what made her happy, even if they didn’t necessarily agree with her. It was so fun watching Marlowe hanging out with her friends. I especially loved the friendship that blossomed between her and Ashton, this moody goth teenager, who appeared the complete opposite of her but was actually very sweet, especially towards Marlowe. He went into helping her despite loathing her ex and making it known. The more time we spent with Ashton, how could anyone not fall in love with him?

My favorite aspect was that this book is about books! And easily my favorite part about this story. We get to watch all our characters bond over romance books. And seeing Marlowe fall in love with reading and connecting with Ashton over them was so endearing. These were by far my favorite parts of the book! 

Well… except for this one scene about Marlowe questioning Ashton who made his band’s website and he goes “The bassist, Mateo’s, little brother. He did it for fifty Pokemon cards and twenty rides to the mall.” I laughed so much at this conversation. So much so, that I shared it with my boyfriend, and he joked with me saying “do mean you’ve never taken pokemon cards as a payment for one of your jobs?!” - I’m a graphic designer for my day job - when I told him no, he teased me saying “you’re missing out then!” 

So, if you enjoy young adult romances set around high school and featuring some books about books vibes, I highly recommend this one! It’ll be sure to make you smile and laugh along the way!