Hannah has the most obnoxious parents on the planet. Her mother spends the day in various states of undress chatting via webcam with fans of her long-canceled TV show. Her father is Jackson, reality TV star, philanderer, and all-out jerk. Hannah has spent the past five years, ever since she and her mother moved to Slaterville after the death of Hannah’s stepfather Jose, trying to be invisible. And she’s mostly succeeded.

But being invisible means she doesn’t really talk to her crush (her “soulmate”), Josh, whether at work or at school. However, her invisibility (or her terribly outrageous parents) doesn’t stop Finn — obnoxious, irritating Finn — from talking to Hannah. It’s everything she can do to keep it all together when it seems everyone around her is slowly falling apart.

Well, actually, that’s not quite right. Something, Maybe is a straight-up romance, the kind of book you’d expect from Sarah Dessen or Maureen Johnson. And as a straight-up romance, it works wonderfully. Yes, it’s a bit predictable — I figured out how the ending would go and there really were no surprises, even with Hannah’s incredibly wacky parents — but, it’s a good, solid, enjoyable, fun — and yes, hot (or at least I found it to be hot) — romance. Aside from the parents, I found the relative lack of disturbed, broken, or otherwise damaged characters to be quite refreshing. They’re pretty normal teens doing pretty normal teen stuff, which works for me.

And you can’t ask much more than that from a YA romance, can you?

Rated: Moderate: some heavy kissing, and Hannah’s mother is a bit on the skanky side, and there are several instances of mild swearing.