Love Is for Losers

December 1, 2020
Fifteen-year-old Londoner Phoebe is busy studying for important exams and volunteering when she finds herself developing a crush on a girl even though she thinks love is basically a disease. Phoebe's mum is off helping people again. She's a doctor, and while she's in Syria for six months, Phoebe is sent to live with her godmother, Kate. While volunteering at Kate's thrift store, Phoebe works alongside a grumpy woman who hates her, a young man with Down syndrome who loves to bake, and Emma, who is "entirely effortless perfection." Phoebe isn't keen on making new friends since her BFF Polly only seems to care about her new boyfriend now, but Emma becomes her friend anyway. They spend time together with kittens and ice cream and find ways to make working at the shop more exciting. Eventually, Phoebe realizes her feelings for Emma are more than just friendship. Told through diary format, Phoebe's voice is conversational and replete with hashtags and acronyms. The misanthropic teen can be hyperbolic and petulant, but she's endearing for her sarcasm and wit. There's not a central plot to the book; it's a slice-of-life story, but descriptions of mundane days get tiresome. Many different topics, including family, friends, school, sexuality, grief, and faith, are explored, but while some are thoughtfully handled, others feel tacked on and lacking in substance. Primary characters are assumed white. A sardonic voice drives an unfortunately tedious tale. (Fiction. 14-18)

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Starred review from December 21, 2020
A sarcastic 15-year-old records angst—about her parents, first love and loss, and failure—in six months of achingly universal journal entries. London resident Phoebe Davis has no interest in love; in fact, she finds emotional entanglements of every kind more trouble than they’re worth. When her best friend abandons her for the idiocy of first love and her frontline physician mother announces she’s heading to Syria for six months, once again leaving Phoebe behind with her godmother, Phoebe insists she’s better off on her own. After an incident with an escaped designer cat leaves Phoebe in debt to Kate, she begins working at the cancer charity shop Kate runs, and finds herself pulled into the lives of her coworkers, including Emma, whom Phoebe can’t stop thinking about. Via journal entries told in Phoebe’s no-nonsense tone, debut author Bruegge-
mann details the snarky, socially awkward protagonist’s growth as she experiences the messiness of attraction and love, and comes to appreciate the joy and pain of connection. Phoebe’s frequent internet searches and frank narration style manage to both entertain and inform on a wide variety of topics pertaining to sexuality and identity, whether she’s looking into the female orgasm or exploring the “strange/brilliant” idea of marrying oneself. Ages 14–up.

January 1, 2021

Gr 8 Up-Fifteen-year-old Phoebe has an endless list of tasks to complete. She has to study for her all-important end-of-year exams, earn enough money to pay back her godmother, and-most importantly-figure out how to fall out of love with fellow thrift shop volunteer Emma. Phoebe is once again living with her godmother, Kate, because Phoebe's mum is off saving the world for months at a time. Again. Phoebe loves her godmother, but doesn't understand why her mom doesn't want to spend time with her. Phoebe can't even complain to her best friend Polly because Polly has a boyfriend now, and Tristan consumes all of her time. Told in diary format, readers see the world through Phoebe's sarcasm-rimmed glasses. Phoebe's wit is sometimes funny, but her story is mostly mundane. While her frustrations are real, honest, and understandable, the presentation leaves Phoebe coming across as whiny, particularly as each day seems to drag into the next. The story takes place in London, with main characters coded as white. Phoebe's grandparents are from Hong Kong, and she learns that her dead dad was Jewish and from Israel, but these facts are only mentioned superficially in passing. VERDICT While the everyday queer romance is cute, Phoebe's sarcasm won't hold the attention of readers as they relive the tedium of her day-to-day life.-Annamarie Carlson, Westerville P.L., OH

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