One Way or Another

Author Kara McDowell

"Sliding Doors" meets "To All the Boys I've Loved Before" in a sweet, smart holiday romance about a girl who decides to stop letting her anxiety stand in the way of true love.

The average person makes 35,000 decisions every single day. That's about 34,999 too many for Paige Collins, who lives in debilitating fear of making the wrong choice. The simple act of picking an art elective is enough to send her into a spiral of what-ifs. What if she's destined to be a famous ceramicist but wastes her talent in drama club? What if there's a carbon monoxide leak in the ceramics studio and everyone drops dead? (Grim, but possible!)

That's why when Paige is presented with two last-minute options for Christmas vacation, she's paralyzed by indecision. Should she go with her best friend (and longtime crush) Fitz to his family's romantic mountain cabin? Or should she accompany her mom to New York, a city Paige has spent her whole life dreaming about?

Just when it seems like Paige will crack from the pressure of choosing, fate steps in — in the form of a slippery grocery store floor -- and Paige's life splits into two very different parallel paths. One path leads to New York where Paige falls for the city ... and the charms of her unexpected tour guide. The other leads to the mountains where Paige might finally get her chance with Fitz ... until her anxiety threatens to ruin everything.

However, before Paige gets her happy ending in either destiny, she'll have to face the truth about her struggle with anxiety — and learn that you don't have to be "perfect" to deserve true love.

Bio

Kara McDowell earned a Bachelor of Arts in English at Arizona State University in 2011.


Praise for this book

An engaging combination of delightfully over-the-top Christmas swoons and realistic anxiety representation.

Kirkus Reviews
Cover of One Way or Another by Kara McDowell
Date published
Publisher
Scholastic Press
ISBN
978-1338654547

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