The Unexpected Everything is Morgan Matson’s fourth book (you may know her from Since You’ve Been Gone). A Junior Library Guild selection, The Unexpected Everything is the story of a prominent US Congressman’s daughter whose summer internship and future plans are tossed into the wind by a scandal that rocks his career and blazes across newspaper headlines and cable news airwaves.

Andie, aged 17, has lived, since her mother’s death from ovarian cancer, under the microscope of her father’s staffers, who have made sure that she’s never done anything to embarrass him in the eyes of the public. But now, a campaign finance scandal is embarrassing Andie, and results in the revoking of her spot in a prestigious Young Scholars Program summer internship at John Hopkins.

Driving to the home of the doctor who withdrew his letter of recommendation, in a failed effort to be reinstated in the program, Andie stumbles upon a run-away dog, catches his leash, and then comes face to face with his dreamy owner, Clark. Clark, not much older than Andie, is a nerdy, homeschooled writer, who published his first novel at age 14.

The storyline evolves into a funny and entertaining romance. Here is an excerpt of Clark’s attempt to ask Andie on a date:

“I was just . . . trying to get a sense of your schedule.” He blinked, like he’d just heard himself, and I could see the tops of his ears were starting to turn red. “Wow, that sounded creepy. I didn’t mean that in, like, a weird way. I think I’m making this worse. Oh god.” He took a breath, then swallowed hard. “I was wondering, you know, what you do. At night.” He stared at me in horror after he said it, like he couldn’t quite believe the words had come out of his mouth. “Oh, man,” he muttered, closing his eyes behind his glasses for a moment. “This isn’t going well.” I had to bite my lip to stop myself from smiling wide.”

Although this novel is 519 pages long, each one is a page turner. Even reluctant readers will enjoy this story of friendship, family, romance and, of course, dogs.