Hard Love (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780689841545)

Since his parents' divorce, John's mother hasn't touched him, her new fiancé wants them to move away, and his father would rather be anywhere than at Friday night dinner with his son. It's no wonder John writes articles like "Interview with the Stepfather" and "Memoirs from Hell." The only release he finds is in homemade zines like the amazing Escape Velocity by Marisol, a self-proclaimed "Puerto Rican Cuban Yankee Lesbian." Haning around the Boston Tower Records for the new issue of Escape Velocity, John meets Marisol and a hard love is born. While at first their friendship is based on zines, dysfuntional families, and dreams of escape, soon both John and Marisol begin to shed their protective shells. Unfortunately, John mistakes this growing intimacy for love, and a disastrous date to his junior prom leaves that friendship in ruins. Desperately hoping to fix things, John convinces Marisol to come with him to a zine conference on Cape Cod. On the sandy beaches by the Bluefish Wharf Inn, John realizes just how hard love can be. With keen insight into teenage life, Ellen Wittlinger delivers a story of adolescence that is fierce and funny -- and ultimately transforming -- even as it explores the pain of growing up.

Author: Ellen Wittlinger
ISBN-10: 068984154X
ISBN-13: 9780689841545
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Language: English
Published: 04/01/2001
Pages: 256
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.50lbs
Size: 8.20h x 5.40w x 0.80d

Accelerated Reader:
Reading Level: 4.4
Point Value: 7
Interest Level: Upper Grade
Quiz #/Name: 31582 / Hard Love

Award: Rhode Island Teen Book Award - Nominee

Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 04/30/2001 pg. 80
Booklist 06/01/2001 pg. 1863
Booklist 06/01/2002 pg. 1709