Anything to Have You

December 9, 2013
Harbison (New Girl) follows the faltering friendship between a pair of high school seniors in this entertaining and believable drama. Brooke is an attention-seeker who begs her serious-minded best friend Natalie to “make an effort” to party with her before they graduate. At the “Stupid Cupid Rager,” Brooke gets drunk, flirty, and belligerent, once again alienating her boyfriend, Aiden, as well as Natalie. A hungover Natalie awakes the next morning in bed with Aiden and little memory of the night before. She knows she’s had sex and assumes it’s with golden boy Eric, who’s been acting unusually friendly. Yet she can’t shake her feelings for Aiden and the guilt that accompanies them. Meanwhile, Brooke’s risk-taking spirals out of control. Harbison makes it easy to sympathize with and understand both girls—the narration alternates between Natalie and Brooke (allowing readers to see certain scenes and events from two angles), and occasional flashbacks give a fuller sense of their friendship. A realistic look at the difficulty of searching for a direction in life and pursuing one’s desires honestly. Ages 14–up. Agent: Jane Rotrosen Agency.

November 15, 2013
An insightful examination of a longtime friendship soured by romance and personality conflicts. Natalie, the serious one, has been best friends with Brooke, the wild one, for years. Natalie can't get over her attraction to Brooke's boyfriend, Aiden, but she does control her actions. When Brooke is finally able to drag Natalie to a wild party, Natalie drinks too much and blacks out, waking to realize that she had sex the night before--but she cannot remember anything about the encounter. She assumes she slept with handsome Eric, who seems truly attracted to her, and continues to spend innocent friendly time with Aiden. Brooke knows that Natalie's more compatible with Aiden than she is, but she's determined to defend her territory even as she flirts with other boys. Alternately related by Natalie and Brooke with real-world frankness, the plot covers events through both girls' eyes, delivering full portraits of each. Readers will be able to spot the flaws in each character and perhaps will guess the book's surprise, but the emphasis is on character development, not suspense. How do the girls react to undercurrents of emotions that each feels but cannot discuss? Harbison's good, solid prose displays real insight into the dynamics of the girls' friendship. With characters and situations readers will recognize, Harbison scores. (Fiction. 14 & up)

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