Katie Cotugno's How to Love, is a teenage crush fest that turns serious, in a snap, #fictionreview, #YA
Katie Cotugno's debut, How to Love , is a teenage crush fest that turns serious, in a snap, as the main characters juggle love, sex, babies, prescription pill abuse, drunk driving, and other hot button issues that hang on their peer group like mosquitoes in the hot Florida summer. Cotugno nails teenage love/lust for the technology native set. The protagonist Reena (short for Serena) Moreno has been in love with childhood friend, Sawyer LeGrande, since the two shared playpens while their parents dreamed of owning and running resturants in the jazz piano night. In fact, the two are almost star-crossed, as Reena's father doesn't trust Sawyer, and Sawyer's posh mother doesn't recognize Reena as remotely anything resembling a person. The back and forth narrative device Cotugno uses is perfect for pulling romantic tension tight. The novel begins in the present, in the "After," as Reena discovers her long lost friend/lover at the Slurpee machine, and poor ...