So Much Closer by Susane Colasanti

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So Much Closer by Susane Colasanti

Viking Children's Books, May 3, 2011

Summary from Goodreads:

When Brooke's crush, Scott, moves from their suburban town to New York City, she decides to follow him there. Living with her formerly estranged dad and adapting to a new school are challenging, and things go from bad to worse when Brooke learns that Scott already has a girlfriend. But as she builds her new life, Brooke begins to discover a side of herself she never knew existed. And as she finds out, in the city that never sleeps, love can appear around any corner...

I had high expectations when I started reading this book--Susane Colasanti is one of the queens of realistic fiction, and I was hoping for a fun romance. The story was fun, and yes, there was romance. It was an enjoyable read, and Colasanti fans will enjoy it, I'm sure.

However, you kind of have to suspend belief to make the plot work, though. Brooke Knows that Scott is the one for her, but he's moving. Oh, so sad. Maybe they could exchange phone numbers or email addresses. Or...maybe...she'll just move in with her father (who she haven't spoken to in six years) so that she can be closer to Scott and then he'll Know that they're meant to be, too! Yeah, that's pretty realistic. But what I did like was that Brooke didn't get all stalker-ish on Scott once she got settled in NYC. I mean, she did have some stalker moments, don't get me wrong, but she also made some new friends, developed new interests, and just started having fun. We get the sense that Scott may have been the push that got Brooke to NYC, but living in NYC has always been her dream, and she's not about to waste that opportunity. Which is a refreshing viewpoint to read about, in my opinion.

The whole fact that Brooke is a secret genus, but doesn't possess a ton of common sense, bothered me. I get that she's against school as an institution but the whole bad grades thing was stretched a little thin for me. It was difficult for me to sympathize with Brooke when she was so obviously the only one trying to sabatoge her future with her apathy towards her eduction.

I would have preferred it if all the relationships had been fleshed out more. It seems we only get snippets of Brooke's relationships with each of her parents, and those snippets don't seem to justify the animosity she feels towards them. In addition, the whole falling out with April and Candice, her BFFs from NJ, was odd and felt rushed.

However, I loved John and Sadie, two of Brooke's new friends. Fun, independent, quirky, they saved this story. Everyone should have a John and Sadie in their life.

ARC received from publisher.

Enjoy your reading!
Christi