Friendship…A Force of Nature

Nina Bermudez, Avery Dekker, and Mel Forrest have been best friends since childhood–they even have a secret Bermudez Triangle chant. And though they’ve grown to have very distinct personalities, now that they’re almost seniors their friendship is as strong as ever.
At least, until Nina spends the summer away at a Stanford leadership program, and Avery and Mel stay in town to work at a restaurant. While Nina is away, she meets the uber-granola, socially-conscious Steve. And Avery and Mel…unexpectedly find each other. When Nina returns, she can tell things are different somehow. And weird. Meanwhile, quiet, pixie-like Mel is discovering that she has somehow always known she was different. Avery, on the other hand, finds that she’s not quite sure what to think. And all three of them have school to deal with, their fellow students’ gossip, and college applications on top of it all.
Like the triangle in this book’s title (which I’m not entirely in love with, but oh well), author Maureen Johnson tells the story from all three girls’ viewpoints in an alternating fashion. At first I wasn’t sure I would like that, but it turned out to be nicely done, fun and clever. The three characters have distinct personalities, and each of them reacts very differently to the complications in their lives. Their friendship becomes a choppy ocean for a while, but this is ultimately a hopeful story–even though the ending is less of a happily-ever-after and more of a things-will-be-different-from-now-on-but-we’re-going-to-weather-this-storm.