While We're Young, by K. L. Walther

Grace, Isa, and Everett are a three-some who have fallen apart.  But Grace hopes to bring them back together with a carefully crafted skip day in Philadelphia. Faking illness, she also manages to get Isa and Everett to join her and the three of them tour through the landmarks of the City of Brotherly Love -- climbing the Museum steps, eating South Philly cheesesteaks, hanging in Rittenhouse Square, and the sheer "joy" of driving and parking around the city.  Grace's plans get complicated by an unknown-to-her romance between Isa and Grace's brother, and the attraction of Everett to Grace.

A loving homage to Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Walther has moved the action to Philadelphia and given the main characters a gender swap, but she's also done a lot more.  I never cared for the movie as I found Bueller selfish and careless.  Grace in contrast is much more sympathetic character.  And the novel overall is a kinder story than the film.  The cost of this is the loss of the cruel humor of the original.  This is a more angsty retelling and the characters straighter.  So, while the inspiration of the novel is clear enough, it does not follow that fans of the movie will find the same things to like here.

Overall, I give this a mixed review.  I enjoyed their tour of Philadelphia.  As I said above, Grace was a kinder and more sympathetic protagonist than Ferris.  But overall, the romances were limp and lacked any spark.  For a lot of professions of love, I didn't see much at all.  And the misunderstandings that caused the kids to become divided and fed the drama were unclear and poorly explained.  I'm not really sure what all the fuss was about.