So Much Closer

So Much Closer
By Susane Colasanti
Viking, 2011. 241 pgs. Teen fiction

Scott Abrams is the love of Brooke's life. She knows it. But he's moving to NYC and they've never really spoken. So Brooke moves to NYC to live with her dad, runs into Scott at her new school, and vows that she's going to tell him how she feels. However, things are a little more complicated than she anticipated, since Scott has a girlfriend (at least kind of) and Brooke's new friends and teachers help push her to reach her potential, making her realize that maybe she wants more than what she originally thought.

I wasn't quite sold on some aspects of this book--including moving to NYC for a boy and just coincidentally ending up living in the same neighborhood and attending the same school--but when I suspended disbelief, I did find it to be an enjoyable read. I enjoyed seeing Brooke's growth, although was slightly irritated by her lack of growth in certain areas (such as thinking her failing friendships with the friends she left behind when she moved was all their fault, not hers. For example, on pg. 117, she complains, when April tells her she takes her genius brain for granted, "Unbelievable. April is one of them and I didn't even know it." Later, on pg. 212, she says she's let April go; maybe April will want to be friends again someday but there's nothing she can do to force it. On pg. 215, she feels bad that she never thought about a guy who liked her's feelings. And yet, she never seem to think about April's feelings...even though April is right. She DID waste her talent. And she could do something about their friendship by actually acknowledging that, for starters.). Overall, this is a better than average book, and clean, too.

3.5 stars. Clean Read.