Lovesick

by Jake Coburn

Overview

Ted’s drunk-driving accident has ruined his life. it cost him his basketball scholarship, ended his plans for college, and forced him into AA. but just when ted has resigned himself to his new life, Michael appears. the wealthy father of a bulimic Manhattan rich girl has a tempting proposition. He has agreed to pay for ted’s college tuition, but there’s one catch. ted has to secretly keep tabs on his benefactor’s daughter, erica. A seemingly simple task, with only one minor problem: ted never expected to fall in love.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781101042731
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	06/14/2007
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	755,528
Lexile:	850L (what's this?)
File size:	353 KB
Age Range:	14 - 17 Years

About the Author

Jake Coburn lives in Los Angeles, California.

What People are Saying About This

Koren Zailckas

"Dangerous, devastating, and funny as all hell, LoveSick is a must read for anyone who has ever found themselves recovering."
—Bestselling author of Smashed: Story of a Drunken Girlhood

Editorial Reviews

In LoveSick, Jake Coburn puts a modern twist on the classic love story. I savored every last morsel.
—Amy Gray, author of Spygirl: True Adventures from My Life as a Private Eye

Gr 10 Up-After driving while drunk, crashing his truck into a tree, and wrecking his knee, Ted York no longer has a basketball scholarship to NYU or much of a future. He attends Alcoholics Anonymous on a judge's orders and has been sober for 90 days. When a stranger offers him full tuition if he'll keep an eye on a bulimic freshman for her billionaire father, the teen accepts the deal, expecting it to require little effort. But he hadn't counted on falling in love with Erica, and he finds himself forced to decide whether his loyalty is to her or the man paying his bills. Coburn skillfully balances the issues of alcoholism and bulimia with the fragile love story of two lost teens. Ted and Erica are surprisingly mature and aware of their faults, and their dialogue, including obscenities, is realistic. Erica's father is sympathetic in his genuine but misdirected concern for his daughter. The fast-paced narrative is helped along by frequent e-mails between characters. Part Ellen Wittlinger's Heart on My Sleeve (S & S, 2004), part Meg Rosoff's How I Live Now (Random, 2004), LoveSick will keep readers rooting for these teens.-Jane Cronkhite, Cuyahoga County Public Library, OH Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

Claiming to be a nonfiction novel, this story explores the relationship between two teens struggling with addiction: Ted with alcoholism and Erica with bulimia. Ted is a good kid from a working-class family, formerly a star basketball player who has just lost an excellent scholarship. Erica is an angry little rich girl trying to escape the control of her powerful father. They're brought together by Michael, who hires Ted to spy on Erica for her father, offering to pay for his college education. Coburn tells much of the story through e-mails, as the two teens develop a friendship. Both become appealing to the reader, although Michael stands out, as the most original and interesting character. Coburn keeps the story well balanced and moving along swiftly. Readers will care what happens to these people; as a result, it should appeal to a wide audience. Nicely done. (Fiction. YA)

Kirkus Reviews