Waiting for You

Reader: Kasey M
Age: 15
Title: Waiting for You
Author: Susane Colasanti
Publisher: Viking
Pub Date: July 2009
Nominate for Teen’s Top 10: No
Recommend: Yes
Convince us to read the book: This book is not just another love story that will make your heart skip and then you forget about it. No. this book holds love, pain, sorrow, and the truth of the world in the pages. The world is not a beautiful place and if one tries to hide it with a stupid romance, it is simply a waste of a book. This is not what this book does. This book shows the cruelty of the world in the form of divorce, affairs, suicide, and depression. Yet this book also provides the perspective of the world that should not be forgotten. It illuminates the light, the joy, the happiness, and of course the patience of the world. One must have patience to survive this world, and this book is a perfect illumination of that patience of love.
Compelling Aspect of the Book: The most compelling aspect of this book is its characters. Each character is carefully crafted to strike a chord in at least one teen's heart. The characters become you as you read and at least one of the character's hold your heart as the book continues. One cannot stop reading simply because one grows tired of the book. It is just not possible to grow tired of the book due to the fact that each character holds your heart and what breaks them, breaks you, and when they triumph, you just simply want to shout with joy!
Did you finish: Yes
Were you disappointed with the book at all: The only disappointment I had in this book was that the beginning was not quite as powerfully written as I had hoped. I was truly afraid that this would end up as a teenage drama book while I read the beginning, yet those fears were washed away as soon as the middle of the book came into view.
Comments: I would just like to thank the author for not making Marisa THE girl that every girl wishes they were. Her physical features held as a great linking point to many girls. She was just an ordinary girl. While relating to a character does not always come out of physical aspect, this character helped me realize that this truly was an ordinary girl... just like me.
Did the cover tempt you and/or reflect the contents of the book: The cover most definitely tempted me to pick up the book! The simple picture showed me that this book was going to be real. This was not some hyped up teenage drama that would flutter my heart, yet it held promise of being a story that would compel me to look at the world in a real and different way. This was exactly what this book held in store for me. The cover was a perfect reflection because it held the reality of the world and a promise in it. The cover was perfect.
Age Range: 14-17
Quality: 3Q Readable
Popularity: 4P Broad general teen appeal