Waiting for You

by Susane Colasanti

Overview

From the author of the City Love trilogy.

It’s sophomore year, and Marisa is ready for a fresh start and, hopefully, her first real boyfriend. But after popular Derek asks her out, things get complicated. Not only do her parents unexpectedly separate, but Marisa has a fight with her best friend, and Derek—the love of her life—delivers a shocking disappointment. The only things keeping Marisa together are the podcasts from the anonymous DJ, who seems to totally understand Marisa. But she doesn’t know who he is . . . or maybe she does.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780142415757
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	04/06/2010
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.34(h) x 0.92(d)
Lexile:	HL570L (what's this?)
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

Susane Colasanti is the author of When It Happens, Take Me There, and Waiting for You. She has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a master’s degree from New York University. Before becoming a full-time author, Susane was a high school Physics and Earth Science teacher for almost ten years. She lives in New York City.

Editorial Reviews

Though Marisa struggles with an anxiety disorder and depression, she starts the school year wanting "everyone at school to know I am not a freak anymore." Her life becomes more exciting when Derek, the popular boy she has a crush on, asks her out. But when Marisa begins suspecting Derek's relationship with his ex, her obsessive negative thinking returns. Colasanti (Take Me There) expertly handles the plot, keeping it ambiguous whether Derek is cheating on Marisa, or if he is being honest when he tells her, "You're accusing me of something I didn't do." The author also nicely contrasts Marisa's exciting but shallow relationship with Derek with her much deeper connection to nerdy Nash, to whom she opens up about her problems. There is no doubt who Marisa will eventually be with (and readers will easily ID the mysterious Dirty Dirk, a DJ who provides advice and hope to students via podcasts). Colasanti presents an authentic picture of how complicated it is to be a teenager, especially one in love. Ages 12-up. (May)

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Publishers Weekly

Author Colasanti has a knack of sustaining the heart-pounding suspense of young love for the length of a novel while managing to make it read, charmingly, like a conversation.

The Philadelphia Inquirer

Marisa spent freshman year grappling with anxiety disorder and depression. Now the amateur photographer is heading into sophomore year with some coping skills and waiting for love to find her. While her best friend is IMing older guys and her once-"normal" parents are separated, Marisa thinks she's finally found romance with popular Derek, her first boyfriend. Why, then, would she rather hang out and discuss her problems, especially her relapsing depression, with her "totally geeked out" chemistry partner, Nash? Maybe while Marisa's been waiting for love, it's been in front of her all along. The story isn't new, but Colasanti keeps it fresh by speaking to teens in their own language. Marisa's realistic, first-person narration ably captures the importance of typical adolescent problems. The author also offers a hint of mystery (although readers will soon figure it out) with a late-night radio show featuring Dirty Dirk, an anonymous student who reaches out to Marisa. Chick lit for girls who think. (Fiction. YA)

Kirkus Reviews