“Just once, Hazel would like to shock her friends, and shock herself. Just once, Hazel would like to do something very un-Hazel-like. But not right now. Because right now Hazel’s gaze snagged on a crooked book in the Romance section and the Hazel thing to do was to straighten it.”

Hazel’s thoughts in the opening chapter introduce her primary, internal conflict: About to turn 30, she worries that she hasn’t used her twenties to be reckless and have adventures, as cultural stereotypes have led her to believe she should have. Hazel believes that she has to change something about herself and be “un-Hazel-like” in order to be acceptable, but she also fears change, as she will not even make the small change of leaving a book out of order.

“There was no way this smart, adorable woman would want to date him. There was a reason Noah went for girls that were only here for the summer, tourists and one-night stands. Noah was good for fun, for a fling. Not for serious girls like Hazel Kelly.”

Noah’s feelings about Hazel here highlight his insecurities and the ways he frequently minimizes his capabilities. These insecurities haunt Noah for the rest of the novel and get in the way of his ambitions. His character arc will require him to move From Self-Doubt to Self-Acceptance and realize that the only thing standing in his way is his own insecurity.

“Hazel liked herself in general. She liked her life. But she still couldn’t help feeling like something was missing. That all those holes in her memories were turning into something like regrets. Regrets she didn’t want to bring with her into her thirties. She thought about Noah’s smiles and those crooked books and blueberry picking. Maybe she didn’t have to be stuck. Maybe for the next two months she could be…fun. She could have fun, right? That’s what summer was for, wasn’t it?”

This quote emphasizes the degree to which Hazel’s aspiration to have a summer of adventures goes against her typical lifestyle. The questions at the end of the excerpt show that she has to convince herself it is okay for her to have fun. Similarly, the beginning of the quote represents Hazel’s early attempts to reconcile the life she has with the life she wants.