The Story of Us
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
A week of her mother’s wedding chaos brings a new boy and numerous other complications into Cricket’s life in this funny and romantic novel from Printz Honor medal winner and National Book Award finalist Deb Caletti.
Cricket’s on a self-imposed break from her longtime boyfriend, but she’s picked a bad week to sort out her love life. For one thing, her mother’s romance is taking center stage—after jilting two previous fiancés, her mom is finally marrying Dan Jax, whom Cricket loves. And as wedding attendees arrive for a week of festivities at a guesthouse, Cricket discovers the guesthouse’s hippie owners have a sweet and sexy son—Ash—who Cricket can’t help being drawn to despite her current romantic predicament.
Meanwhile, complications abound: Cricket’s future stepsisters are busy making it clear they’re not happy about the marriage; an old friend decides this is the week to declare his love for Cricket; Grandpa reveals a big secret at a family gathering; and Dan’s ex-wife shows up. Even the dogs—Cricket’s old, ill Jupiter and Dan’s young, lively Cruiser—seem to be declaring war.
While Cricket fears that Dan is in danger of becoming ditched husband-to-be number three, she’s also alarmed by her own desires. Because even though her boyfriend looms large in her mind, Ash is right in front of her…
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Eighteen-year-old Cricket's mother has left a trail of broken relationships behind her, but this time she's found a "good guy." Cricket, however, fears that her mother won't go through with her marriage plans. Indeed, the week leading up to the wedding, as family and friends arrive at a large coastal inn, is fraught with spoiled soon-to-be stepsisters, fighting dogs, and the sudden divorce of the groom's parents. And Cricket has her own romantic problem: she and her long-term boyfriend, Janssen, are "taking a break" so she can sort out what she really wants (something that grows murkier when she meets the innkeepers' son). Some readers may tire of offbeat secondary characters and the accelerating chaos, but they will savor Cricket's thoughtful and poetic observations about love her letters to Janssen, in which she writes about her dog, Jupiter, and what dogs reveal about love, are quite moving ("Their goodness is goodness, and their love is love... and nothing you do seems to change that"). Caletti's (Stay) ninth novel is a rewarding story of a girl's struggle to live and love in a world of constant change. Ages 12 up.