Honey, Baby, Sweetheart

 Author: Deb Caletti

Age: YA

At school, Ruby McQueen is The Quiet Girl. (I've been The Quiet Girl before, too--often I guess I still am--so I know how much it sucks.) But in the summer after her junior year of high school, she gets a chance to be someone different. Travis Becker is not only gorgeous, he's also rich, which means he goes to private school and has never met Ruby before. He's also a bad boy. Ruby doesn't belong with a bad boy, but Travis doesn't know that. Travis thinks Ruby is daring and fearless and beautiful. Obviously, Ruby falls head over heels. Unfortunately, Travis' idea of "exciting" is more like Ruby's idea of "terrifying," and Ruby starts to think that maybe being someone else isn't so great.

When it comes to love and bad boys, Ruby's mom, Ann, is a seriously bad example. She's a librarian who's still in love with Ruby's dad, Chip, a musician who deserted the family years ago to follow his dreams. Now he plays guitar in an amusement park saloon, and comes back into their lives for a few days at a time--just long enough to wreak havoc and leave Ann devastated yet again.

Ruby sees through Chip, and Ann sees through Travis, but that doesn't really help anyone. Then Ann starts bringing Ruby to the book club she runs for senior citizens. They're reading a book by the famous author Charles Whitney. Charles--and the old ladies in the book club--have some things to teach Ann and Ruby about love. That's why Ann gets the brilliant idea to reunite Charles Whitney with the woman he loved and lost in 1940s New York City. Ann, Ruby, and the book club set off on a road trip of self-discovery and healing.

When I read the summary of this book on amazon, it only talked about the gorgeous bad boy part, and I'll confess that's what interested me. Then when I got the book out of the library, and the jacket went on and on about the senior citizen road trip, I thought it sounded pretty lame. But it's not--it's so good. The old people are full of wisdom. Any girl who's ever felt like she needed a boy to complete her should read this book. As Miz June says, "Love can come when you're already who you are, when you are filled with you. Not when you look to someone else to fill the empty space."

I've read a lot of the wild-child-cautionary-tale genre of teen fiction, and this book is so much better than the usual that it's almost unfair to group it with them. Maybe I prefer this book because it's so much more relatable. I was always a good girl. No one I knew--or at least no one I knew closely--ever got raped or committed arson or shot anyone. But every girl I've ever known, including me, has at some point had a bad relationship or a bad breakup or worried too much about boys. And it's the right sort of feminism (at least my idea of what feminism should be). It's not "Down with love!" It's "Up with you! And then love!" And there is some lovely romance--even if the teenagers aren't ready for soulmates, the 80-year-olds know exactly what they want.

I also really like the narrator. Her voice reminds me a bit of Barbara Robinson's narrators--she has the same sort of openness and humor and wisdom. She even has an adorable and astute kid brother. And she's good at description--from scenery to emotions--which many writers are not.

Even if you're no longer a teenager, you probably still need to learn what this book has to teach. In fact, you may actually be more ready to hear it now.

Recommended for readers who like: The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants; Barbara Robinson; The Notebook; I Capture the Castle; Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld; How I Changed My Life by Todd Strasser; Princess Ashley by Richard Peck