So Much Closer

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY 18 APR 2011

Brooke doesn't really know Scott Abrams, but she knows that they are "supposed to be together." When she finds out he is moving to New York City, she follows him there, moving in with her estranged father and finishing out high school in the city. Readers may be swept up in this romantic, farfetched premise (hey, it worked in Felicity), but Brooke herself feels like a cipher; she is described as "angry" and an underachieving genius, but the reasons for her poor performance are unclear, and her narration doesn't exactly betray genius-level insights. But even if Brooke is somewhat underdeveloped, she is easy to root for as she begins to realize, "No one can be everything you want them to be.... It's up to me to create the life I want." Mostly, readers will fall in love with Brooke's New York City and appreciate Colasanti's (Something Like Fate) up-to-the-minute details (the High Line park, the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck) and descriptions, such as "how crowded the streets are at two in the morning," as Brooke falls asleep to the sounds of her new city. Ages 12 up.