by Susane Colasanti
ages: 12+
First sentence: “I never meant for it to happen like this.”
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I don’t read a lot of chick lit, really. Though I do know good YA chick lit when I see it.

This was not it.

Things against it:

The whole idea of Fate, that Two People (in this case Lani and Jason) are Supposed to Be Together in spite of everything (including the fact that Jason is dating Lani’s best friend, Erin). Ugh.

Dumping one’s girlfriend VIA LETTER (really??? People still do that??).

The stilted dialogue.

He’s like, “Whoa.”
“What?”
“That can’t be right.”
“What?”
“What time did you say you had to be home?”
My stomach sinks. “Eleven. Why?”
“It’s one fifteen.”
“Shut Up.”

The really lame homophobia of the school that comes out of nowhere and goes nowhere and really has no point with the rest of the book.

The bashing the pro-environment philosophy over my head. (I consider myself a bit of a tree-hugger, and I was turned off. C’mon, do it subtly!)

The incredible cattiness of Erin and the rest of the freaking school (calling her slut, her so-called close friends refusing to talk to her, creating a web site just for bashing her) after it comes out that Lani and Jason had been dating. All summer. Seriously???

The pat ending.

Bottom line: read Maureen Johnson’s books instead.