Audre & Bash are Just Friends

Audre Mercy-Moore is the novel’s protagonist. The narrator describes the 16-year-old as having “doe eyes, dimples, a tousled tumble of gold-streaked goddess braids” (2). She considers herself in “the suburbs of hot” rather than highly attractive (2), and her opinion of her appearance fits within her broader concern that she is behind her peers when it comes to life experience and romance; however, her peers look to her for advice, indicating her insightfulness and trustworthiness. 

Audre is a brilliant, diligent, and ambitious young woman who shines in her academics and extracurricular activities and aspires to attend Stanford and become “a world-famous psychologist” (3). However, Williams takes care not to romanticize Audre’s relentless pursuit of excellence. Her “perfection addiction” erodes her peace of mind, causes her to agonize about the past and future instead of living in the present, and damages her relationship with her mother. Audre’s intelligence, ambition, and reliability help her achieve a high degree of success, but these accomplishments come at a high cost to her personal well-being.

Audre serves as the novel’s protagonist and primary viewpoint character. Her friends-to-lovers arc with Bash drives the romantic comedy’s plot and genre. Audre’s evolving dynamic with her mother is essential to the theme of