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A review by panda_incognito
Dear Lovey Hart, I Am Desperate by Ellen Conford
4.0
I learned about this vintage YA novel because a Goodreads friend added this to her to-read list. (If you're reading this, hi, Kathryn!) The title and premise appealed to me immediately, and I got this from ThriftBooks. On the night that I started it, I was planning to just read a chapter or two and then go to bed, but I ended up reading the whole thing. The first-person narrator is hilarious, self-aware, and clever, and the advice column plot was realistic, showing how a teenager running an anonymous column could both help people and find herself totally over her head.
This book will appeal to people looking for humorous vintage reads, and because it focuses on unchanging elements of human nature, it doesn't feel especially dated. In terms of content notes, there isn't anything in this book that would be considered offensive now. Most notably to me, although there are some realistic references to teen girls feeling unhappy with their weight, this only comes up a few times and isn't a running joke. Some characters use mild profanities. There are some extremely mild sexual references, to the point where they wouldn't even qualify as such in today's world.
One thing I appreciated is how the author handled the subplot about one of Carrie's friends feeling like she's in love with a young teacher. The book makes it very clear that dating a teacher is never a good possibility, that you have to let feelings like this pass, and that when you're under someone's authority and not their peer, a romantic relationship is not an acceptable thing to pursue. I appreciate how the book acknowledges the reality of how a teenage girl might feel about a teacher while still outlining clear boundaries, and without telling a horror story to make the point.
This book will appeal to people looking for humorous vintage reads, and because it focuses on unchanging elements of human nature, it doesn't feel especially dated. In terms of content notes, there isn't anything in this book that would be considered offensive now. Most notably to me, although there are some realistic references to teen girls feeling unhappy with their weight, this only comes up a few times and isn't a running joke. Some characters use mild profanities. There are some extremely mild sexual references, to the point where they wouldn't even qualify as such in today's world.
One thing I appreciated is how the author handled the subplot about one of Carrie's friends feeling like she's in love with a young teacher. The book makes it very clear that dating a teacher is never a good possibility, that you have to let feelings like this pass, and that when you're under someone's authority and not their peer, a romantic relationship is not an acceptable thing to pursue. I appreciate how the book acknowledges the reality of how a teenage girl might feel about a teacher while still outlining clear boundaries, and without telling a horror story to make the point.