The Love Code

Volume XXVII / Issue 37 - May 28 / 2021
The Love Code
The Love Code
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The Love Code

Author: 
Mette Bach
Series: 
Real Love
Toronto, ON: James Lorimer, 2021
184 pp., trade pbk. & epub, $14.95 (pbk.)
ISBN: 
9781459415843 (pbk.)
9781459415850 (epub)
Grades: 
Grades 9-12
Ages: 
Ages 14-17
Review by: 
Sarah Wethered
3
Excerpt: 

Astrid got off the Commercial-Broadway 99 bus at the loop. Trying to make sense of the vast parking lot, she pulled out her phone to look for where she was supposed to be. It was cold and the wind made the rain whip against her face.

Slipping past grey towers, she finally found an old brick building. She felt like an imposter even opening the door. With each step she took, her stomach churned. She smoothed down her windswept hair. Once she had her jacket off, she wiped the rain off her face with her sleeve. She took one deep breath and opened the door.

A small group of folks were all gathered at the far end of a room that looked like a workshop. It reminded her of Adam Savage’s workspace, with tools and machines everywhere. There was a metallic scent in the air and it was colder than a classroom would be.

Everyone looked over at her standing at the open door. She proceeded toward them.

“And you are?” It was a tall Black woman wearing coveralls and a confident air.

“Astrid.”

“Astrid. Welcome. I’m Aliyah. I run this thing. Sort of. I’m the official sponsor because I teach here at the University of British Columbia in Robotics. But this is a youth-led group, so I try my best just to offer guidelines and suggestions. And of course, the workspace.”

The Love Code is part of the “Real Love” series for reluctant readers. In this short novel, Astrid has joined a Robotics club at the University of British Columbia in an attempt to help her win a full-ride scholarship to an engineering school. Her family has fallen on hard times and has gone from financial stability to poverty almost overnight. Astrid’s entire life revolves around work and school, and she feels that joining the Robotics club will help her chances get into a good university. Astrid meets Bernie, the captain of the club, a confident and capable coder who hopes to lead the club to victory at an upcoming Robotics competition. Astrid also meets Karsyn, a private school boy, full of entitlement, whom Astrid’s ex-girlfriend, Ivy, has begun to date. Astrid must learn how to contribute to the robotics team in a meaningful way, deal with her growing feelings for Bernie and how to get along with Karsyn who seems intent to rub his relationship with Ivy in Astrid’s face. Readers of The Love Code> will be compelled to find out whether Astrid and Bernie become an item, if Karsyn will get his comeuppance, and whether the Robotics team will win the competition.

I recommend The Love Code to readers who enjoy realistic fiction and are interested in robotics or coding. The plot moves quite quickly and offers a realistic look at the struggles some teenagers go through in their day-to-day life. The growing romance between Astrid and Bernie is sweet and shows that LGBTQ+ teens experience many of the same issues when falling in love that non-LGBTQ+ do. That the romance is between two girls is almost inconsequential. That being said, LGBTQ+ teens will easily be able to see themselves in the story.

Recommended
Reviewer: 

Sarah Wethered has been a teacher-librarian at New Westminster Secondary School for 21 years, and she lives in New Westminster, British Columbia. She is currently on leave as she serves as president of the New Westminster Teachers’ Union.