Last Year's Mistake

April 1, 2015
After a painful parting, a girl's first love suddenly reappears and turns her life upside down, forcing her to confront her biggest regret. The summer before freshman year of high school, Kelsey and her family embark upon their annual trip from Norwood, Connecticut, to Newport, Rhode Island. Kelsey barely makes it out of the car before she collides with David, the boy who becomes her best friend for years to come. As time passes, it becomes clear David has feelings for Kelsey, but the moment he chooses to reveal them to her couldn't be worse. Both end up hurt, and Kelsey pulls away, hoping to reinvent herself when her family relocates to a new town. A year later, Kelsey has moved on; she's in love with her new boyfriend and has totally changed her style. But the moment David walks through the doors of her school, her carefully constructed house of cards begins to collapse. Soon she's forced to confront unresolved emotions from her past and decide what she wants for her future. The love triangle offers no thrills; it's built on Kelsey's frustrating indecision and self-proclaimed possessiveness. Bitter banter takes precedence over romance, and it's unclear why anyone wants to be with anyone by the end, especially Kelsey. An exhaustion of soap-operatic romantic entanglements (Fiction. 14-18)

April 1, 2015

Gr 8 Up-When David transfers into Kelsey's Rhode Island high school midway through senior year, it doesn't take long for everyone to realize Kelsey and the new boy have a history. In chapters alternating between past and present, readers learn about the sweet friendship Kelsey and David shared when they both lived in Connecticut, before friends, family, illness, and awkward fumblings toward something more tore them apart. In the present, their bond (and attraction) is still strong, much to the dismay of Kelsey's jock boyfriend, who seems to be keeping a secret of his own. Both David and Kelsey have suffered significant traumas in the recent past, which the author reveals piece by piece. Most of the heavier plot points are well weighted, and much care is taken getting both characters on the same page in terms of relationship readiness. While the build up to a happy ending is strung out a little too long, the teens are allowed plenty of heart fluttering moments along the way. The parallel between what Kelsey went through at the hands of some cliquey girls at her old school and her reinvention as a popular kid at her new school is well drawn, giving depth and context to types of girls that are often drawn as stereotypes in teen fiction. VERDICT A solid, thoughtful romance with plenty of angst.-Beth McIntyre, Madison Public Library, WI

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

tiffanyl - This story is about a girl name Kelsey met her neighbor's grandson, which is also at the same age as she is, and then they become really good friends because of accidentally bump into each other and Kelsey's parents are nice too. As the friendship is going on and on, it started to become love, but they both didn't realize it, then, a misunderstanding turned Kelsey into the school joke and everything around her crumbled, including her friendship with David. So when Kelsey is going move away, David wasn't ready to be left, but then Kelsey wants to start over and leave the past behind. Now Kelsey is at the new school and everything was different and she also have a boyfriend too, her life is perfect until David move to that town and transfer to that school. This story is basically talking about both of their first love, but they both didn't realize, and then faith put them together and then the second chance came. I really like this story, because I like to read romantic stories, and this is a story that is really special because it's first love, second chance, not like "love" love story, it's like something was blocking them, and then the chance came and changed it all over again.

June 1, 2015
Grades 9-12 Kelsey and David are best friends with the possibility of something more, until a misunderstanding comes between them. Soon after, Kelsey's family moves, giving her a chance to start over and reinvent herself. But when David moves to the same town at the start of senior year, Kelsey must reconcile who she wants to be with her feelings for the boy she left behind. Told in alternating flashbacks and present-day chapters, debut author Ciocca delivers a push-pull romance that will appeal to readers looking for plenty of buildup and angst. Kelsey has a lot of growing to do as she comes to terms with the realities surrounding what she thought would make her life perfect. The secondary characters are a bit flat, and the plot is mainly focused on whether the leads will get together. The tension between Kelsey and David simmers throughout, and, though the journey to a romantic ending takes time, readers who enjoy romance should relish the ride. A nice choice where contemporary romance is popular.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)