All Our Worst Ideas
by Vicky Skinner
Published by: Swoon Reads
Publication date: August 11th 2020
Genres: Contemporary, Young Adult
Synopsis:
Two teens who have nothing in common work together at a record store in All Our Worst Ideas, a powerful and voice-driven YA novel from Vicky Skinner.
When Amy, on her way to becoming valedictorian of her graduating class and getting accepted to her dream school, gets dumped by her long-term boyfriend, she takes a job at a record store to ease the pain. She needs a distraction, badly.
Oliver, Amy’s record store co-worker, isn’t so sure about Amy—his complete opposite—but what he is sure of is his decision not to go to college. He just can’t figure out how to tell his mother.
As they work late-night shifts at the record store, Amy and Oliver become friends and then confidantes and then something more, but when Amy has a hard time letting go of what she thought was her perfect future with her ex, she risks losing the future she didn’t even know she wanted with Oliver.
Excerpt
“You don’t like the new girl, do you?”
My hand freezes on the paper, the tip of my pen still pressed down. “Why do you say that?”
She shrugs and runs a hand down the side of her head that’s shaved. “You’re quiet around her.”
“I’m quiet around everybody.” I don’t much like people, a fact that Brooke knows perfectly well.
Brooke is quiet. She stands with her hip pressed to the counter and her arms crossed until I stop writing and look at her. She won’t let it go.
“There’s something about her that makes me feel like . . .” I trail off, not really able to explain it.
Brooke makes a waving motion to tell me to go on. “That makes you feel what?”
I sigh. “Like she’s judging me.”
Brooke laughs. “Oh, come on, Oliver. She’s not judging you. She was perfectly nice to you her whole shift.”
I shrug. “I feel like she’s sizing me up every time she looks at me.” “That’s because you’re a foot taller than her.”
“Har, har.”
She smiles, something that doesn’t happen particularly often, but Brooke and I are easy around each other. “Is that why you clammed up when I mentioned MBU in front of her?”
I roll my eyes and go back to the damages. “I’m not talking about this.”
She throws her hands in the air. “What? I didn’t say anything!”
I ignore her and keep writing. I’ve never come out and told Brooke that I don’t want to go to college, but I’m sure she’s figured it out, seeing as how I haven’t made any movements to try to downgrade my hours to make room for classes. If anything, I’ve been asking for a fuller schedule. If it were up to me, I would work open to close every day. Actually, if it were up to me, I would probably live here.
“You don’t have to say anything. It’s all over your face. What, you have some sort of special attachment to Missouri Baptist?”
She just shakes her head. “I was just curious about whether or not you’ve decided where you’re going, that’s all. Can’t I care about you?”
I stop writing again. This isn’t about her caring about me. It’s about her trying to get me to admit to something. “No,” I finally say, just to get her off my back. “I haven’t decided yet.”
Brooke shrugs. “Okay. Well, I’m rooting for you, Oli. You can go once you’ve cleaned up the floor. I’ll stay and do everything else.”
I glance out at the perfectly arranged and organized sales floor. “Um, your new girl already took care of everything.”
Brooke glances up with only her eyes. “Shit. I like her.”
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AUTHOR BIO: Vicky Skinner was born and raised in Texas, where she started writing novels about kissing cute boys when she was fifteen and eventually earned a BA in Literary Studies from The University of Texas at Dallas. She’s a full-time writer, a part-time runner, and she currently lives in Dallas with her husband.
Author links:
thebooknerddiariesblog.wordpress.com 
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