We definitely love our mental health representation here, and I especially appreciated both Danielle and Prince’s experiences with their school counselor. She’s focused on her plan to move to New York City to become a famous author, and avoiding dealing with what happened at that party a few months ago. While their first real encounter isn't perfect, the two definitely make an impression on one another. I loved the idea of a teen “love doctor,” and the way the main characters support each other is so heartwarming. She's focused on her plan to move to New York City to become a famous author, and avoiding dealing with what happened at that party a few months ago.

However, she can’t resist when Prince convinces her to go on three dates with him and gradually they fall in love.This was the perfect blend of teenagers being cute silly goofy, butterflies, those pesky hurtful reminders of trauma that tend to stop us in our tracks the moment we feel comfortable, and what it means to take time for yourself to help you open up and overcome.

This book is a celebration of Black love, Black teenagers, Black friendship, and the Black family, and I adored it from beginning to end. He’s been crushing on Dani Ford since middle school, and when they meet again, they don’t leave a good impression. All of these, plus the romance and other details mentioned above gave a perfect balance to the book! She’s focused on her plan: ace senior year, score a scholarship, and move to New York City to become a famous author. This was something that the characters struggled to share with each other for a big part of the book, but LaDelle does a great job of letting them open up more and more to each other at the right times.the two are in their senior year of high school, which of course comes with its own struggles, but they were each dealing with their own stuff, too, which made things harder. I loved how Danielle decided to take him out on a date, which was so funny because we see her being completely disgusted with the idea of love in the beginning of the story.

It was also really smart for LaDelle to let Dani and Prince to both be supportive of each other with their passions to increase their connection with each other. Will the self-proclaimed teen love doctor be able to get the girl, or is all his love talk just hot air? His character really hit home for me- it brought me back to my high school years when I didn’t want to go too far from home for college. Hitch meets The Sun Is Also a Star in this novel about a self-professed teen love doctor with a popular radio segment who believes he can get a girl who hates all things romance to fall in love with him in only three dates. Love Radio has all the fun rom-com moments, from the totally extra dates to meeting the parents to awkward bathroom moments met with grace and humility.

Ebony LaDelle’s Love Radio is a love letter to Detroit, to young love, and to figuring out how to love yourself. Dani pushing away her friends after the party incident that haunts her is isolating, and makes her trauma feel even worse. From checking each other for misogyny to breaking stereotypes about teen parenthood, the secondary characters in the friend groups truly show how important building community and being supportive is. From maintaining healthy friendships to letting go of toxic friends, a wide spectrum of friendship is depicted. Dani has closed herself off from all of her friends after an incident last year; she’s definitely not looking for love.