The Half-Life of Planets by Emily Franklin and Brendan Halpin

Liana is a girl with a reputation for being easy, a slut. The note in her locker at the end of the school year proves it. So this summer she's decided to prove to herself that she really isn't (because she isn't), and decides not to kiss any boys.   Hank is a nice enough boy, but he's also a boy with Asperger's Syndrome, with means he sometimes says the wrong thing, at the wrong time. He's also cute and funny, and Liana thinks maybe this no kissing will be harder than it seems.

The Half-life of Planets is a really cute book, told in alternating chapters. The voices of both Liana and Hank are really well done, and while I have no direct experience with Asperger's, I think this is probably pretty accurate. Hank is very literal, and guileless in his mistakes. His obsession with music would make me crazy, but Liana seemed to tolerate it, so it worked. I definitely liked Hank more than Liana, but both are well done.

The romance is slow and not heavy. There are no moments of crazy desire but several moments of incredible sweetness. It's not all light and rainbows either, as Hank has a hard time figuring out what's going on and Liana is a little gun shy. Both Liana and Hank manage to screw up, so nothing is entirely one sided.

 My only real problem with the book is the need to have a reason for why she kisses boys. Just wanting to kiss boys isn't enough. I felt like it was trying too hard to connect her "problem" with an underlying cause, which in itself is annoying, since kissing (and not more) doesn't seem like a problem to me. It is every more annoying though because the authors don't go far enough in connecting it. It's a very weakly explained cause and effect to me, and I felt like if they wanted to go there, they should GO THERE. Despite this it's a sweet little book and one I would recommend to other young adult romance fans.