Helen Hicks is one of the mfc. The book starts off with readers learning more about Helen. Her small town, where she grew up in thought her whole family was weird, and she was labelled an outcast. Her bad attitude didn't help. She tried to think of herself as s character in a book, but nothing she did seemed to fix the loneliness she felt. Helen decides to sign up for a contest where the winner wins the Gelding Fellowship. Helen really, really wants to win because she wants her parents to be proud of her and see that she can be a successful writer.

Helen soon meets Cherry after she pointed out how Helen's hair dye stained the back of her shirt (I laughed so hard picturing this.) Helen believes that Cherry could be a literary genius after she spoke out in class. From there, their friendship blooms as they write notes back and forth to each other in class. As the story continues, Helen begins to get praised for her writing, even being told that one of her pieces was the most promising. Things happen that create a wedge between the two girls, and soon they start having a feud that lasts YEARS. Towards the end of the book, it just reminded me of how fast time flies and how much you can miss in someone else's life when you let something simmer negatively in your friendship.

This book was one that I enjoyed. Female friendships are one of my favourite types of fiction books to read about. I loved seeing each of the characters' growth in this book. 3rd person is not always my favourite writing style to read about, but it quickly grew on me in this one.

Thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union for the opportunity to read Young Fools by Liza Palmer. I loved his book. Liza Palmer deftly and with great sensitivity peels back layers of a friendship to get to the very tender heart. How many of us have pushed back against thoughts and feelings about best friends because they felt disloyal - and because we were unable to face the root of those feelings? Bravo for Liza Palmer, Helen, and Cherry.