‘Promposal’ by Rhonda Helms was right up my alley. It resonated with me since I was always someone who had what I considered unrequited crushes, and I always over-analyzed every little detail, much like Camilla and Joshua did throughout their respective chapters in the novel.

As best friends, Camilla and Joshua have their share of relationship turmoil. Camilla is crushing on Benjamin who is in her psychology class. He doesn’t seem to have any interest in her, but when they are paired up for a psychology project experiment, she hopes against hope that something may occur between them. Making her life more troublesome, however, is the fact that Zach, a mere acquaintance from her statistics class, has asked her out in an over-the-top fashion for prom. His “promposal,” which everyone seems to know about and use that name for, includes a massive display in front of Camilla’s schoolmates in the hallway, with a TV camera crew present to boot! It was kind of interesting that everyone knew the term “promposal,” as I hadn’t heard of it before this novel, but the seniors seemed well aware of this prom tradition.

Joshua, on the other hand, is already good friends with the guy he’s in love with – Ethan. Ethan, however, wants to ask Noah to prom, and, much to Joshua’s dismay, asks Joshua for help in making the promposal as sensational as possible. It’s the perfect example of being torn between what to do – helping your best friend and secret love woo someone else and spending time with that secret love while helping just to be as close as possible to that person while you can.

Conflict is ever present in the novel, as Camilla and Joshua basically reveal themselves (subtly and not so subtly) to those they like, all the while witnessing other promposals throughout the school among friends and classmates. Despite not getting what they want right off the bat, they are well aware of how to help each other deal with the complexities of their relationships – after all, it always seems to be easier to make sense of what’s wrong with other people’s lives and help them deal with it rather than dealing with your own issues.

My only qualm with the novel was that it seemed that at almost every turn, someone was feeling tension, and the word was constantly being used and then dismissed through a different means of it being remedied. By no means do I doubt that teens feel tense quite a bit over crushes, friendships, and other matters, but it just seemed to be ever-present in the writing, and I felt it could have been shown more through physical descriptions rather than told about so much.

Overall, however, ‘Promposal’ is an enduring read, as it deals with themes – love, over-analyzing, trusting your instincts, and friendships – that are constant reminders of not only youth, but adult life and how to cope with issues as they arise. The writing style flowed smoothly and succinctly, leading readers through the minds of both main characters, and keeping the story and plot swiftly moving along.

You can find ‘Promposal’ by Rhonda Helms by clicking here.