A Taxonomy of Love

Rachael Allen’s A Taxonomy of Love is a YA romance—with a sparkling commercial voice and a dash of science—that explores a relationship over six years.

A Junior Library Guild Selection

The moment Spencer meets Hope the summer before seventh grade, it’s something at first sight. The pair become fast friends, climbing trees and planning world travels. After years of being outshone by his older brother and teased because of his Tourette syndrome, Spencer finally feels like he belongs.

But as Hope and Spencer get older and life gets messier, the clear label of “friend” gets messier, too. Through sibling feuds and family tragedies, new relationships and broken hearts, the two grow together and apart, and Spencer, an aspiring scientist, tries to map it all out using his trusty system of taxonomy. He wants to identify and classify their relationship, but in the end, he finds that life doesn’t always fit into easy-to-manage boxes, and it’s this messy complexity that makes life so rich and beautiful.

“This book is groundbreaking in its demonstration of the complexity of human emotion.” —School Library Connection (Starred Review)

Rachael Allen is the author of 17 First Kisses, The Revenge Playbook, The Summer of Impossibilities, and A Taxonomy of Love, which was a Junior Library Guild selection and a 2018 Book All Young Georgians Should Read. She lives in Atlanta with her husband, two children, and two sled dogs.