Rating: 
Summary: A wonderful, exciting novel about first love!
Review: Since reading Deep End of the Ocean, I've patiently waited for another novel from Mitchard--and I was not disappointed. This book is better! I could not put it down. It's a wonderful novel about the emotional chaos of first love.
Rating:
Summary: An amazing story
Review: This is the wonderful story of Arley, a smart teenager who falls in love with a convinct ten years her senior, marries him and falls pregnant. It's also the story of her protective lawyer Annie, who is also at a turning point in her life, wanting to settle down but whose long-term fiance does not share her aspirations.
Mitchard lets her characters grow and make mistakes, and she is never patronising, which make the story more realistic. This book is captivating and it will make you laugh and cry. It's a great story for anyone who's taken the chance to turn things around after making the wrong choices in life.
Rating: 
Summary: Great as jailhouse comedy
Review: I'm more than halfway through the book now, so I haven't quite taken in the whole thing, but I can give some impressions. Emotionally it grabs you, that's the up side. If enjoyment is an index of a writer's success, I enjoyed the book. It's very seductively written and goes down one's throat like bubbly, fizzy, great tasting alcohol. This is especially cool because there is a great need to play off against the morbid, too-conservative, hypocritical and dowdy aspects of life. People take themselves too seriously and need a little laughter and imagination in their life. The down side is that if I had a teenage daughter I know I wouldn't want her into anything like this. No way! Especially the part about condoms, strip searching (complete with body parts) and the legal right to have jailhouse sex. Horrors! But seen as strictly comedy, it is a great read (for an adult or even an older young adult, that is)! If one views this book from a tongue-in-cheek perspective, however, one can detect a well-developed sense of irony throughout. It is a great take-off and caricature on the corruptness and impersonality of the legal system in which one is definitely just a number. And in which so much wheel spinning and misspent, financially disastrous do-goodism takes place. So much so that Mitchard goes to the other extreme and develops Arley's "overlooked" individuality to an intoxicating, some might say refreshing, somewhat absurd but still very interesting and certainly humorous degree. In conclusion, although I liked the book and could relate to it emotionally, I think Mitchard went too far in scraping the bottom of the barrel. For example, talking about "crotch jumping" and a "pulse in her crotch" starting to kick in, etc. when Arley thought about Dillon--and Annie thought about the handyman who worked on her house, etc.--is cute, but so overly physical. What has any of that got to do with the purported theme of the book, "love" that conquers all? The beauty of the book, however, from my point of view is its very appealing, no-holes-barred, tell-it-all-straight-from-the-shoulder, ultra-colloquial conversational style. So sometimes I could give Mitchard the benefit of the doubt about the kinky stuff. At other times it turned me off! The poetry was rather corny and unbelievable, also, and the events implausible. For example, a boy such as Dillon would ordinarily have had a great deal of understandable hostility towards the opposite sex, especially at the beginning, and this is not addressed very much, if at all. In spite of this, the emotional impact and freshness of seeing the world through the eyes of a fourteen-year-old is very cute and endearing and may or may not make up for other flaws, depending on the viewpoint of the reader. However, I agree with one of the other reviewers who said that you have to like a book like this, and if you don't, you just don't...This book was definitely not on a par with "Deep End of the Ocean" and I know what still other reviewers meant when they said the "foreshadowing (and transitions) were gimmicky." In its defense, however, I don't think the author intended this as a book to be taken strictly "literally."
Rating:
Summary: A unique perspective of an all too common situation
Review: It's not often that an author gets inside of a teenage mother's head--and reveals one of those that tries very hard to be careful and logical. There are some of these girls out there: those that want to do the best things and yet the rest of the world would never see the method behind the madness; or the logic (skewed, but understandable) in what they're doing. I found this to be an EXCELLENT book... true to the times and yet not downhearted enough to make me want to put it down (because we have enough misery--don't we?).
Rating:
Summary: Not bad
Review: Arly Mowbray is a 14 year old who's beuatiful, athletic, extremely intelligent, and has a best friend. So what is missing in her life that would push her into the arms of a twenty something prisoner? One word...neglect. Her family has nothing to do with her. Her mother treats her as if the only reason she keeps Arly around is so she can keep the house clean and cook for her lazy, older brother. When Dillon LaGrande pays extra special attention to Arly; written poems about her, telling her how wonderful she is, etc. she falls madly in love. This story is wonderfully written and it's not your typical coming of age story. It's a nice mix of detail, character building, and a good solid plot. I give this one 4 stars.
Rating: 
Summary: Definitely worth your time and money!
Review: If you are looking for a good book to curl up with, read on the road, or simply sweep you away this is it! I really loved this one, have bought it a number times to share with friends. I found it much more engrossing than Deep End of the Ocean, and while I liked that book also I cannot recommend it with the confidence I can this one. You will get caught up in caring for a young girl, being swept away as she loses her virginity, watch her grow smarter and stronger, and cheer for her and her lawyer. Very fun, perspective writing so you can get in the heads of different personalties and get a good perspective. This is well worth it!
| 
