Swoon at Your Own Risk

August 23, 2010
Polly has a weakness for attractive boys, but while she loves a good hookup, her boy-chasing results in awkward aftermaths and is wreaking havoc on her relationship with her best friend, Jane. Salter (Jungle Crossing) sets the backdrop of this romantic comedy at the decidedly unromantic locale of Polly's summer job at a Wild West–themed waterpark, with repeated reminders that, while cute boys abound, they stand amid urine-infused pool water and snot-nosed children. Polly's half-hearted vow to swear off boys is complicated by the arrival of her advice columnist grandmother—a.k.a., Miss Swoon—who shares Polly's amorous tendencies and whose advice Q&As close out most chapters. While readers may relate to Polly's predicaments, as a character she falls short of fully sympathetic: her encounters with Jane are painful and she has the unappealing habit of correcting people's misuse of the English language. Enter Xander, who's destined to teach Polly a lesson about juggling both a boyfriend and a best friend. Xander may be a poet (Salter scatters his bits of "wisdom" throughout), but why he bothers with mercurial Polly remains unclear. Ages 12–up.

April 1, 2010
Gr 9 Up-Flirty Polly Martin has sworn off boys after five failed relationships in her junior year. Now she's working at the Wild Waves water park for the summer and faces distractions like her boss; a good-looking ex; and a regular customer, shirtless Xander, who makes her heart patter. Increasingly confused about how to interact with the opposite sex, she chooses heavy petting over relationships. She turns to her grandmother, newspaper-columnist Miss Swoon, for advice. But wisecracking, sexual-innuendo-spewing Polly won't get anywhere until she can learn to deal with her emotions and her parents' divorce. At the start of the narrative, Polly's bad-girl act seems a little over-the-top but the reasons for her behavior slowly emerge halfway through the book. Each chapter ends with a letter to Miss Swoon, blog posts from a rumormonger coworker, and musings from love interest Xander. All in all, this book is a light read with an emotional awakening and enough romance to keep fans of the genre interested."Shawna Sherman, Hayward Public Library, CA"

Copyright 2010 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2010
Grades 7-9 Boy crazy in a house full of women, Polly is facing a summer nightmare of working a crummy water park job being supervised by an exand in a bathing suit no less! Hoping to learn from her advice-columnist grandmother, Polly swears off guys and tries to improve herself by following Miss Swoons affirmations and attempting to mend a rift with her best friend, Jane. Unfortunately, skater/poet (and formerly weird neighbor kid) Xander keeps showing up at the park to babysit relatives and catches Pollys eye. Polly uses humor to deflect most real conversations, which makes her the life of the party but leaves her lacking in the serious-relationship department. What appears to be a frothy summer confection delves into some heftier emotions as the underlying issues motivating Pollys actions, as well as those of her mom and grandma, are uncovered. Each chapter ends with snippets from Miss Swoons advice columns, Xanders poetic observations about Polly, or entries from a coworkers gossip blog.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)