Rolling forward to be heard or to record the moment. Played at low or high volume depending on the mood, with imperfect sound, clarity, or quality. Fragile, breakable, and with limited time. Youth is like cassettes. For Anna Williams, the last year of her high school life was never supposed to be in California. It was never supposed to end at a new school, in a new city, and with no friends. But even with all that she is determined to stick to the same goals she's always had: Keeping a near-perfect grade point average, getting into an elite college, and planning her future. But when she meets Cal Sorenson, a boy unlike anyone she ever thought she'd be friends with, let alone more than that, she discovers life in the moment can be worth taking in. For Cal, the one final wish for his life at Crestview High School isn't just about graduating and getting into college. He wants the girlfriend that has eluded him, the person he can craft special mix tapes for, go to concerts with, and show off to his friends. When he meets Anna, a new arrival at his school, he comes to find what he wants most isn't exactly what he'd wished for. Set in the earliest years of the 1990's, "Like Cassettes" is a heartfelt coming of age story with a backdrop completely free of what would soon become fixtures for future generations: Internet, smart phones, texts, social media, and more. Within the final days and months of a more analog than digital era is a story of two young people on the verge of adulthood, navigating through how their lives are changing... just before the world itself was about to change. Full of friendships, love, angst, confusion, humor and rites of passage that come with every generation, "Like Cassettes" also has a healthy dose of nostalgia (music, movies, TV shows) for older readers without alienating younger ones. No matter the decade the realities of growing up never change.