Devan’s lived with her father and stepmother Tracie, but when her dad dies, her life is in for a huge change: she’s being sent to live with her mother. The mother who she knows nothing about except that she lives in Los Angeles. The mother she knows only as the infamous, best-selling novelist Reece Malcolm.

When the plane lands and Reece is there, things get a little awkward. There’s no instantaneous mother-daughter bond. There’s little small talk, aside from their light conversation about getting a burger at the “world’s best burger place.” But it’s the tiny details Devan picks up on that help her work through not just the transition, but that help her come to figure out who her mother is and what their relationship may be. Both of them, for example, go for the diet coke. Details like this one are important in the story, but not because of what they are. The details are important because they are what define Devan and ultimately, what define the relationship between Devan and Reece.

Another surprise awaiting Devan in Los Angeles is Brad. He’s Reece’s boyfriend, who just recently moved in with her. Brad is about as opposite as you could get from Reece, too. And it’s not that he’s better than Reece or that he’s a better parental figure to Devan. He’s just different, and he is the kind of good person that Devan deserves in her life. Especially as she comes to understand her mother.

What complicates things even more for Devan is knowing the story of how she herself came to be. As Devan grew up, she heard snatches of stories, of her father cheating on Tracie with someone named Reece Malcolm. And Devan, never knowing her mother, couldn’t quite make heads or tails of things when she discovered a dedication to her inside a book authored by Reece Malcolm. Devan had never assumed it to her from her mother to her. She’d never known her. But with pieces falling into place, things almost become more uncomfortable and confusing for her.

But Amy Spalding’s debut The Reece Malcolm List isn’t just about Devan discovering the depths (or non-depths) of her mother. It’s about Devan coming to accept who she is and coming to find her place in a new environment so wildly different than the one she left in the midwest. It’s also about Devan learning how complex every person in her life is — not just her mother.

First, it’s New City School. Where Devan had always been passionate about musical theater, the places she lived in small midwestern towns didn’t always give her opportunities to perform. But now? She’s auditioning at and performing at a school in the city dedicated to the arts. She’s among the best of the best here. And while it could be intimidating, given her background, is anything but — Devan is a go getter. This is evident not only in the confidence she has when it comes to performance, but it’s evident, too, in the way she seeks out any and everything she can about her mom. Sure, some of the methods are questionable (she snoops email when it’s right there for her to do so) but it doesn’t change that driving force she has to figure things out on her own.

The other thing — maybe even a bit of a bigger thing to Devan — is the sudden attention she’s getting from the boys at her school. First, there’s Sai. He’s new to New City, too, and he’s from St. Louis, so they’ve got that in common. Then there’s Travis. He’s sweet to her, too. Both boys have their perks and their drawbacks, but what matters is not so much who she ends up with, but instead, the way that romance blooms in Devan’s life. I can think of few YA books that have approached the teen romance with such authentic awkwardness. Devan doesn’t fall head over heels. Devan doesn’t fixate on the way that a boy’s stare or hair or hands or body makes her feel. Rather, she’s much more internally focused about how it feels to actually feel something for another person. It’s not smooth, nor is it easy. It’s not cut and dry and even reading it, Devan offers us this sort of vulnerability of putting herself out there in a way that makes her feel uncomfortable and weird. But isn’t that what a first romance is? Uncomfortable and weird? Spalding nails it, and even though I’m not a big romance person, I thought the way it worked with the story and the way it worked for Devan personally had a great payoff.

The Reece Malcolm List gives us a great voice in Devan. At times, there are small cross-outs through the narrative, and each chapter begins with a list of the things Devan’s learned about her mother. Devan’s a tiny bit sarcastic, but it’s not in an unnatural or forced manner. In fact, it’s funny the way her sarcasm works when she interacts with her new peers and even more so when she interacts with Reece and Brad. Not to put her in a box, but Devan’s voice was reminiscent of a performing artist, the kind of person who likes being on stage and being seen and heard through a character. Which is to say that, we are seeing her as one thing on a whole, but it’s through these small details like the cross outs, like the lists, like her fixation on the little tiny things, where we crack this character and understand her at a deeper level. It mirrors precisely what she herself is doing to figure out who her own mother is. It takes some digging because it’s not laid out there on the surface for us to just have.

Fans of musical theater will eat this novel up, without question. There are references to tons of shows, and obviously, performance plays a role in the book itself. It’s how readers discover Devan, how Devan discovers her mother, and how both Devan and her mother discover Devan herself. More than that, though, this book is written in a way that leaves a reader feeling really satisfied. Where there are novels that tackle grief through the lens of working through grief, Spalding doesn’t do that here. In fact, despite the story appearing to be a novel of grief, Devan tells readers from the beginning that while she’s sad to have lost her dad, it wasn’t the end of her life. And indeed, it’s not — we get to see her really take control of her own future here, even though she’s forced into a world completely foreign to her. Just when it seems like Devan has a grasp on Reece Malcolm and on her life, we’re given even more depth and more surprises. Those discoveries keep this story fresh and the final one — arguably the biggest thing Devan discovers about Reece — might be the one which brings Devan the most peace with her new life, her new mother, and what the future holds for them all.

Hand The Reece Malcolm List over to readers who want a fun and charming contemporary novel that doesn’t come off as saccharine or unrealistic. Spalding has a knack for the teen voice and for capturing humor in a way that’s authentic. I don’t like to call out books as “clean reads,” since everyone’s definition is different, but this is the kind of book that has appeal to younger, as well as older, teen readers. There aren’t content issues to worry about. This book is custom made for fans of performing art, for those who always have a song stuck in their head, and for those who want a story about a non-traditional, yet still functional, family.

The Reece Malcolm List will be available February 4. Review copy received from the publisher.