Playing With Matches

A finalist in the Delacorte Press First Young Adult Novel Contest, this honest, bittersweet novel is the story of a young man who must choose between the odd-girl-out who makes him feel special, and his gorgeous crush who has just asked him out.

SEVENTEEN-YEAR-OLD LEON SANDERS has a mug that looks like it should be hanging in a post office somewhere. If he didn't have his twisted sense of humor, he'd have nothing at all. So it's no wonder to Leon and his friends that the gorgeous Amy Green will never even look twice at him.
However, there is one girl who might: Melody Hennon. Everyone at Zumner High keeps their distance from Melody because she was burned in a childhood accident. Leon has avoided her, too, until the day he tells her a bad joke and makes her laugh. Although Leon worries what people will think of him dating Melody, he's happy to have someone in his life who thinks he's special. That is, happy until Amy Green asks him out after Leon saves her from getting detention. Will Leon give up a shot with the Beauty so that he can live the fairy tale with the Beast?