Robin and Ruby by K M Soehnlein

This text provides an extensive look into the lives of two siblings, Robin and Ruby MacKenzie, during a pivotal weekend in 1985, centered around the fallout of Ruby running away from a party. Robin, a college student and aspiring actor, struggles with his current job as a server, anxieties about a recent negative HIV test, and complicated relationships with his on-again, off-again boyfriend, Peter, and his close friend, George, who often drives him around and provides emotional support. Ruby, who is trying to break up with her pretentious boyfriend, Calvin, is in the process of losing her virginity to her crush, Chris, while grappling with her feelings of being the odd one out in her family, especially since the long-ago death of their brother, Jackson. The narrative follows Robin, George, and Ruby's increasingly dramatic interactions as Robin and George travel to the Jersey Shore to find Ruby and bring her home, forcing confrontations about family history, sexuality, fears about the AIDS crisis, and their i