Set at Lincoln High School in suburban California, Your Own Worst Enemy (2018) is a satirical YA novel about a student body presidential election that quickly turns into a mess of dirty tricks and identity politics. The story unfolds over two weeks, narrated through rotating perspectives.
Stacey Wynn has done everything right. Running unopposed for student body president is simply the next logical step in her carefully managed ascent. Her best friend Brian serves as her campaign manager. French-Canadian transfer student Julia Romero decides to enter the race on an impulse. Brian is immediately smitten. Completing the ballot is Tony Guo, a Chinese-American underachiever best known for his devotion to chocolate milk, which the school has banned.
Julia is donor-conceived, the child of a white mother of Italian-Canadian descent and an anonymous sperm donor. Her physical appearance reads as Latina to nearly everyone she meets. Her mother has withheld all information about the donor’s ethnic background, leaving Julia without the knowledge to either confirm or correct that perception. When she enters the race, her identity becomes a campaign asset she neither sought nor fully understands, drawing the support of the school’s Latino student community. Julia is not lying about who she is, exactly. She simply doesn’t know.
