Girl Meets Boy, edited by Kelly Milner Halls

There are two sides to every story, but rarely do we get to hear them both.  In this collection of short stories, we hear about several teenage relationships, from the perspective of both the male and the female involved.  A diverse cast of characters helps prove that even in the teen world, male-female interaction can be quite complex.

I must say, I really loved the concept of this book.  Hearing a story from both perspectives was an interesting idea, and I think overall it was very well delivered.  Some of the story couplings worked better than others, but overall, conceptually the book is fresh and interesting.  It also provides the reader with an opportunity to find new authors.

I thought that, in general, characters were well developed for being in short stories.  The book highlights many different types of teenagers by having characters from diverse ethnicities and cultures, 

sexual preferences, personalities, and family situations.  I greatly appreciated this diversity; I think makes the book relatable to a much broader spectrum of young adult readers.  Everyone wants to read about someone like them at that age, when everything makes you insecure.

As with any collection of stories, some will be stronger than others, and this book is no exception.  One particular pairing of stories really failed to hold my attention, and the execution of the writing just seemed awkward.  But overall, I thought the book well done.  While there are some sexual situations in some of the stories, this is hardly new to the world of teenage fiction.  And certainly no different than the television shows currently marketed to kids.  However, parents who are concerned about this may want to make note that teen sexuality is explored in this book.  I think the book will appeal to a broad audience of young adult readers.  The short stories make for a quick read, yet still have a lot of depth.


I received this book for review as part of the Amazon Vine program.

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