Freak Magnet
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- $6.99
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
A novel about freaks, geeks, crushes, and friends—and how sometimes you can be all of them at once.
Charlie is the freak. Gloria is the freak magnet. They're pretty much destined to meet. And when they do, sparks fly . . . for Charlie. Gloria, well, she just thinks he's like every other freak who feels compelled to talk to her, although a little better-looking than most.
While Charlie has his head in the clouds, Gloria's got hers in a book: her Freak Folio—a record of every weirdo who's talked to her in the last year (it's a big book). But never before has she felt the pull to get to know one of them better. Until now.
In this he-said-she-said tale of love, loss, and lucky signs from the author of the ac-claimed Funny Little Monkey, two young strangers at a crossroads in their lives become friends by happy accident (okay, maybe some harmless stalking is involved—and not by the person you'd think!) and forever change each other.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
At first glance, this novel seems like a straightforward if unconventional love story: boy sees girl, boy chases after girl screaming that she s beautiful, girl tells boy to get lost. But through the alternating points of view of Charlie and Gloria, Auseon (Jo-Jo and the Fiendish Lot) layers this romance with much more Charlie s pain over his mother s terminal illness as well as Gloria s grief over her brother s death in Afghanistan and her frustration with a mother who is attentive to everything but her daughters. As Charlie and Gloria fall in love, readers are treated to the musings of a complicated boy whose extroversion and peculiarities (he wears a Superman costume under his clothing) mask inner pain, and Gloria, who, underneath her hard exterior, longs for someone to see her for who she is and love her still. Evocative of the work of Barry Lyga, Auseon s story offers characters that feel lifted from the bright, angsty, offbeat world of comics. Readers will easily fall for this story of freak love; it s poignant, laugh-out-loud funny and awkward in the best of ways. Ages 14 up.