HEART ON MY SLEEVE

This modern epistolary tale (emails and IMs joining handwritten letters and postcards) is voyeuristically enjoyable. As senior year draws to a close, Chloe visits a college and meets Julian there. The two immediately bond and begin dating (sort of) long-distance. In Massachusetts, Chloe wrestles with how this affects her relationship with friend-since-kindergarten Eli; in Florida, Julian resists being set up with adoring Nina. When Julian’s older sister suddenly gets married and Chloe comes out of the closet, sibling and parent relationships enter the picture. The parents are less believable throughout than the kids (ages 18-22). Chloe and Julian become so smitten over the summer that when he comes to Boston in August for a singing scholarship competition, they’re shocked and resentful to discover that they don’t know each other all that well. A successful use of multiple viewpoints and an interesting exploration of the implied intimacy of various forms of non-verbal communication. (Fiction. 11-14)