Brief

Augie is nervous about starting college, but Augie is nervous about almost everything--he has severe anxiety and suffers from sporadic panic attacks. This isn't helped with his mother divorcing his stepfather, and his grandmother's frequent escapes from her nursing home. However, as Augie starts to spend more time with his grandmother, he overcomes his troubles and learns to stand up for himself.

What We Liked

- Unique;
- The book shows anxiety in an honest, non-exploitative way;
- All of the characters are complex and affected by their backstories;
- This would be a good coming-of-age indie drama film;
- Funny, independent older women;
- Sex-positive feminism;
- Romance.

Synopsis

Augie is moving into his freshman dorm at college, aided by his mother, Diane. Augie meets his new roommate, Isaac, who invites Augie to a party that night. Augie drives back home, only a short way away, but his mother is distracted as she has just been served divorce papers by Augie's stepfather. They get a call from the nursing home--Diane's mother, Gertie, has run away. As Augie is driving back to his dorm, he sees his grandma, picks her up in the car and tries to take her back to the nursing home, but she convinces him to go to the party that night and take her with him. Augie has a panic attack and Gertie helps him recover, winking to him that she learned it from one of her old clients. They go to the party and people stare at Augie walking in with an old woman with a tutu and pink hair, but everyone at the party soon grows fond of Gertie and her funny stories about her time as the "floozy of Fremont Street." Augie leaves the group and meets Rose Varley. He immediately develops a crush on her and they exchange numbers before her boyfriend, Scott, comes up and takes her away. The next morning, Augie has a nasty hangover and takes his grandmother back to the nursing home, but promises to visit her weekly.

Augie is delighted to find that Rose is in his chemistry class and they become lab partners. Augie's grandmother encourages him to ask her out, and they go to a Halloween party together. Rose starts to have sex with Augie, but Augie soon stops it when he realizes that Rose is high out of her mind. He confronts her and tells her that he wants her but not like this. They both leave the party upset and Augie fears he will never hear from Rose again.

During one of Gertie's escapes, Augie also helps her break out her friend Tunes. Even Diane is pleased to see Tunes, an old "co-worker" of Gertie's from back in the day, with strong mob ties. Tunes reveals that she's dying of terminal cancer. Eventually, Augie talks to Rose and the two get together. Rose apologizes and tells Augie that he was right and she's had feelings for him this whole time. Rose goes away for a vacation to see her family, and when she comes back Augie picks her up in a fancy car borrowed from thug friends of Tunes, and takes her to the fancy restaurant. The two are together and are able to have sex without Rose getting PTSD. The group reunites with Augie's family at Tunes' funeral, which turns out to be a jubilant affair. Augie realizes that he has overcome the majority of his panic attacks thanks to Gertie and his new friends.

About The Author

Award-winning and Amazon Bestselling Author Jennifer LeBlanc was born and raised in South Dakota, and has always had a knack for storytelling. She currently works in merchant banking and credit services while writing her next project.