What do a superhero team, a chosen one, and a harvest festival have in common? They all have been carefully crafted into heartwarming tales of teenage love and friendship. While author Rainbow Rowell has written for a variety of genres, subjects, and mediums over the years, what unifies her works are their relatable characters and sense of heart. Every time I read one of her books, I immediately got pulled into the lives and troubles of the characters. They made me burst out laughing at their one-liners and tear up over their losses. Their struggles and emotions feel genuine. Rowell augments her characters’ personal growth with engaging whirlwind adventures. Her narratives manage to be unpredictable even when you know exactly how they’ll end. She focuses on the journey, the development of relationships, rather than fixating on the endpoint. Her stories always feel immersed in a well-developed universe. She understands how to leave an audience feeling satisfied, while at the same time making it clear that the characters live on after the book has been shut.