Two Across

Two Across by Jeff Bartsch, 293 pages

At the age of 15, Vera and Stanley became rare co-champions of the National Spelling Bee, essentially packaging them together in the public eye for the rest of their lives. Three years after their win, Stanley, in a desperate attempt to avoid further academia (which had previously been foisted upon him by his hermit mother), suggests a scam wedding to Vera, so that he can pursue his true passion: building crossword puzzles. Vera agrees to the fraud, with more than a little hope that Stanley will reciprocate the crush she has on him. Instead, they're stuck together and constantly on the run (often Vera running from Stanley) as the con gets trickier and trickier to maintain.

I loved the premise for this book, Bartsch's first. It's maddening how Vera and Stanley dance around each others' feelings, but that's OK, it's how this book is meant to be. I also loved their shared nerdiness about spelling, crosswords, trivia, and math, which permeates almost all elements of their story. If the book has any fault, it's in the ending, which seems a bit abrupt. However, the story's still a wonderful one and fans of wordplay (or Wordplay, the documentary about crosswords) will love it.