The Darlings in Love

by Melissa Kantor

Overview

The Darlings have just begun their second semester of ninth grade, and love is in the air.
Victoria: The sweetheart
Jack: The irresistible songwriter but is he writing off Victoria?

Natalya: The overachiever
Colin: The perfect match, if only the game were less complicated

Jane: The drama queen
Simon: The Greek god of mixed signals

In the face of both joy and heartbreak, the Darlings know that they'll always have each other. Boys come and go, but the Darlings are still forever.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781423164425
Publisher:	Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	01/10/2012
Series:	The Darlings
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Lexile:	810L (what's this?)
File size:	902 KB
Age Range:	12 - 14 Years

About the Author

Melissa Kantor (www.melissakantor.com) is the author of the best-selling Confessions of a Not It Girl, a Booklist Best Romance Novel for Youth in 2004; If I Have a Wicked Stepmother, Where's My Prince?, a YALSA Teens Top Ten Pick in 2006; The Breakup Bible, a YALSA Best Books for Young Adults nominee in 2007; and Girlfriend Material, a Texas Lone Star Reading List winner and a Junior Library Guild Selection. Melissa is a teacher in Brooklyn, New York, where she lives with her husband, the poet Benjamin Gantcher, and their three children.

Editorial Reviews

Gr 8–10—In this sequel to The Darlings Are Forever (Hyperion, 2011), three close friends with appealing and distinctive personalities support one another through the ups and downs of romance during their first year in high school. Victoria's boyfriend, Jack, has more in common with his friends than with her. Natalya has a crush on her chess partner, Collin. He seems to share her feelings even though he has a girlfriend who Natalya knows and likes. And drama queen Jane falls for the handsome boy who acts opposite her in Medea, but he isn't sure he's straight. The girls' stories are well defined, and they develop on parallel tracks. But until readers realize that the protagonists go to different schools, interactions among them can be slightly confusing. Realistically, they meet up and connect through texting, and it's their warm and lighthearted banter that makes this novel stand out. At the same time, these are strong characters, each of whom has developed a life away from the others. Secondary characters, too, feel worth knowing. In fact, Jane's classmate, Michael, the sometimes-irritating director of Medea, may be waiting in the wings for her. None of the stories ends predictably, and enough loose ends are left for readers to want to spend more time with such pleasant company.—Tina Zubak, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, PA

School Library Journal

"The Darlings"--Jane, Natalya and Victoria--return in this tumultuous tale of first love (The Darlings Are Forever, 2011). Having successfully navigated the transition to high school, the best friends now face their first serious relationships. Natalya gets a second chance at love when former crush Colin suddenly reappears in her life. Actress Jane embarks on a new romance with her stunning but mysterious co-star, Simon, while Victoria happily continues dating Jack. However, the façade of these seemingly perfect relationships soon starts to crumble, as love, like life, quickly becomes complicated. Kantor consummately conveys both the heartache and joy of first love. As the trio moves through the peaks and valleys of their relationships, they emerge slightly heartsore but infinitely wiser. Through the girls' dating dilemmas, Kantor contemplates such topics as honesty, personal integrity and the importance of maintaining one's own identity within a relationship. The strength of the tale lies in the girls' steadfast, mutual support: Their friendship endures through advice given and not taken, remaining solid when things go awry. While the girls may struggle with the complexities of life and love, readers will be confident that this resilient trio will prevail. (Fiction. 13 & up)

Kirkus Reviews