HARD LOVE
Ellen Wittlinger
Aladdin Paperbacks
Fiction
ISBN: 068984154X

Every so often you'll come across a YA novel that will make you glad you get to review this genre. The kind of book that makes you actually wish you were a teen again so that you could read these cool books and know that they were meant for you. The kind of book that restores your faith in the idea that some YA authors really DO know what's going on inside the minds of teens today.

HARD LOVE is that kind of book.

WOW --- It's been a while since I've read a book with such well-developed teen characters; the kinds of kids you knew in high school and who still go to high school out there somewhere in America. Ellen Wittlinger goes right into the minds, hearts and psyches of these teens, letting it all out onto the page in a beautifully unadulterated form, as if to say, "Here they are, America's Teens. Like it or not, this is them --- get used to it." Quite simply, she rocks.

HARD LOVE is the story of John, a lonely and confused teen who's just a little too smart for his own good --- instead of helping him, his intelligence and sensitivity serve to focus the light a little more strongly on his alienation and loneliness. He reads 'zines and soon connects with the writer of a 'zine called Escape Velocity, a self-proclaimed "Puerto Rican Cuban Yankee Lesbian" named Marisol. They meet, become friends, and neither of them will ever be quite the same again.

Wittlinger's characters are unforgettable and they act out their lives in situations that are realistic and touching. An excellent novel, few that read HARD LOVE will be disappointed --- quite possibly, the best YA novel this year.

--- Reviewed by Jordan Baker

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