Hard Love (book review)

picture courtesy of thebookdepository.co.uk

Lately, I have been on a YA realistic fiction binge: catching up on the books I missed circa high school of 2004. There were books I picked up but was too busy to read fully. This book was one of them.

Written by Ellen Wittlinger in a male first person narrative, Hard Love deals with John, the main character, who reads zines while dealing with his broken family dynamic. He avoids his friend, Brian, since he is uber romantic and wants to talk about girls all the time. Everything is its usual negative routine until John decides to meet Marisol the hardcore honest Puerto Rican lesbian zinester (seriously she describes herself that way within the book).

This novel is one of those guy meets girl and thinks nothing is going to happen until he realizes it happened. It's an anti-romantic book that shows what its like to be the guy who gets rejected...kinda like Ted from How I Met Your Mother.

To me the fact that John doesn't get the girl is the hook of the novel. I really didn't like his attitude but at the same time understanding why he is the way he is through his eyes helped to make this book  more interesting. If you're a lover of happy endings I suggest to not expect much with this book because you are not going to get that happy ending. Either way, if you are into the coming of age stories, dig right in.


Til Next Blogpost,
Miss Bobo