A review by missprint_
Waiting for You by Susane Colasanti
3.0
Marisa is ready for her sophomore year to be different. After waiting for so long for the perfect person to come along and for the rest of her life to start, Marisa is tired of waiting. This is going to be her year. It has to be.
When cute, popular Derek asks Marisa out, it seems like her waiting really is over.
But it turns out, waiting or not, things don't always go smoothly. Instead of living a dream, Marisa's perfect family starts to shatter and dating Derek isn't all it's cracked up to be.
The only bright spot in what is turning out to be a way less than perfect year is DJ--the anonymous podcaster that the whole school listens to. Even when everything is a mess, DJ seems to understand exactly what Marisa and the rest of the school need to hear.
Even dealing with her lab partner/neighbor Cash is way harder than she thought filled with missed signals, confusion and a general pervading awkwardness. This is definitely not what Marisa has been waiting for in Waiting For You (2009) by Susane Colasanti.
Waiting For You is Colasanti's third book. Like her others, it is also YA. Despite that, and the age of her narrator, this book felt much younger to me. If not for the focus on dating and relationships, I would have pegged this as a Middle Grade title rather than a Young Adult one.
While the story resonates with teens who share Marisa's frustrations about waiting for something and seemingly never finding it, this was not my favorite Colasanti read. Although the story was interesting--Colasanti always manages to pack in a lot of fun extras besides the core story--I never connected with Marisa as a narrator.
Consequently, I'm sorry to say the story did not resonate with me. Marisa is immature and rash, jumping to random conclusions with seemingly no confirmation and missing other, larger, things completely. Other principal characters like Cash felt much more developed compared to Marisa, not to mention being more entertaining, despite Marisa being the one narrating the story.
Waiting For You has its fans, and it will appeal to some readers. For others, like me, it won't. But that's okay because Colasanti has a lot of other books that are sure to do the trick.
Possible Pairings: The Nature of Jade by Deb Caletti, What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen, The Boyfriend List by E. Lockhart, Vibes by Amy Kathleen Ryan, Absolutely Maybe by Lisa Yee
When cute, popular Derek asks Marisa out, it seems like her waiting really is over.
But it turns out, waiting or not, things don't always go smoothly. Instead of living a dream, Marisa's perfect family starts to shatter and dating Derek isn't all it's cracked up to be.
The only bright spot in what is turning out to be a way less than perfect year is DJ--the anonymous podcaster that the whole school listens to. Even when everything is a mess, DJ seems to understand exactly what Marisa and the rest of the school need to hear.
Even dealing with her lab partner/neighbor Cash is way harder than she thought filled with missed signals, confusion and a general pervading awkwardness. This is definitely not what Marisa has been waiting for in Waiting For You (2009) by Susane Colasanti.
Waiting For You is Colasanti's third book. Like her others, it is also YA. Despite that, and the age of her narrator, this book felt much younger to me. If not for the focus on dating and relationships, I would have pegged this as a Middle Grade title rather than a Young Adult one.
While the story resonates with teens who share Marisa's frustrations about waiting for something and seemingly never finding it, this was not my favorite Colasanti read. Although the story was interesting--Colasanti always manages to pack in a lot of fun extras besides the core story--I never connected with Marisa as a narrator.
Consequently, I'm sorry to say the story did not resonate with me. Marisa is immature and rash, jumping to random conclusions with seemingly no confirmation and missing other, larger, things completely. Other principal characters like Cash felt much more developed compared to Marisa, not to mention being more entertaining, despite Marisa being the one narrating the story.
Waiting For You has its fans, and it will appeal to some readers. For others, like me, it won't. But that's okay because Colasanti has a lot of other books that are sure to do the trick.
Possible Pairings: The Nature of Jade by Deb Caletti, What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen, The Boyfriend List by E. Lockhart, Vibes by Amy Kathleen Ryan, Absolutely Maybe by Lisa Yee