Love and Leftovers

I sometimes add books to my Amazon wish list or to my Kindle and then when I actually read them I have forgotten what drew me to them in the first place. That was the case with Love and Leftovers by Sarah Tregay, but at the first page I remembered with delight why I had chosen it - not only is it in verse, but it is by a semi-local author for me. I always love making connections to locations in the book, so this one had the double benefit of being split between Boise, Idaho (where I commute for my doctorate) and Durham, New Hampshire (somewhere I have never been but that conjures up images of writing gurus, such as Linda Rief and University of New Hampshire faculty).

With that immediate hook, I plunged into the novel, and I did not want to put it down - although I did the first night, knowing that I needed to get to bed at a semi-reasonable hour.

Lisa Schroeder is probably my favorite author who writes novels in verse, and the voice in Love and Leftovers, reminded me of her books. Marcie, the main character is fun and witty. She also tells her story in a gut-wrenching manner, being able to understand her torn emotions and the confusion she feels with everything going on around her (and within herself).

When her mom finds out that her dad is gay and has a boyfriend, Marcie's mom flees with her to New Hampshire. Marcie expects it to be short term, but as the summer comes to a close and it is time to start school, Marcie realizes that it is not so temporary. Far away from her best friend, boyfriend, and the other "leftovers" at Boise High, Marcie starts to make the transition to Oyster River High School.

This shift in her parents' relationship was a curveball for her and she finds herself questioning the other relationships in her life and tries to make sense of her own feelings. Oh, and not only does she miss her friends and her dad, but her mom is depressed.

So many emotions to sift though, and I loved every minute of it trying to figure out the decisions she was going to make, as well as how others in her life would react to the events going on. The verse also had a lot of lines that I absolutely loved.

As an added bonus, I noticed that Sarah Tregay has a tab on her site dedicated to a compilation of novels in verse titles. She has them broken down by age group with suggested ratings. What a great resource! I will definitely have to revisit it for ideas.

*3/12 2012 Debut Author Challenge