BOOKENDS
Just like I promised, I'm back with bookends today!
Accidental Love by Gary Soto
Southern California, tough girl, school romance. After punching out her best friend's boyfriend, Marisa picks up the wrong cell phone. When she goes to return the phone, she meets brainy Rene, who belongs to chess club, is a whiz at math, and goes to a different school. Determined to get her act together -- and get closer to this nerdy guy she's inexplicably crushing on -- Marisa changes schools. She works hard in her classes and is suddenly spending all her time with Rene -- trying out for the school play, doing homework, learning chess. Things seem to be smooth until one day when she's called into the principal's office....
The story was nice, but I found the writing a bit stilted and lacking polished flow. Nevertheless, it's a quick and solid read about a good clean young teen romance.
Y FICTION Soto

Swollen by Melissa Lion
Another California teen romance. Star cross-country runner Owen Kilgore died of a swollen heart. That same day a new boy enters Sam's life -- and instead of running away, she runs right into him. Despite bothersome family issues at home, Sam finds herself enjoying the company of this brilliant, cultured, gentlemanly guy who takes her breath away and whom she doesn't really understand. After cutting cross country practices, missing meets, hitting all the different beaches, and wanting nothing more than to be near him, Sam can think of nothing better than letting Farouk sneak her out of her house and take her back to his. And after having sex together, Sam can only hope that maybe, just maybe, she will be pregnant with his child, who will keep them together always. Suddenly, however, their relationship changes -- Farouk is no longer around like he was -- and Sam must come to terms with the life she leads.
This is a beautifully written, psychological and emotional book, swollen with joy, pain, need, desire, sorrow, hope, anticipation. For a more mature audience than Accidental Love, I recommend this rich book.
YPB L

And there you have it -- the two books I read on Sunday. I really did love Swollen, though I'm not sure how I feel about the title -- it doesn't really entice one to pick up the book.
~emily - 9:15 AM~

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