I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Wow. This is just stunningly bad. I mean, it is nice that Antonio and Miesha figure out that there can be more to a relationship than sex, but these kids are just totally messed up! Booze, drugs, sex, fighting, bullying, sex, parents who are terrible role models, teachers--even for advanced English--who speak as poorly as the students, sex, lack of responsibility, lack of honesty, etc., etc. While I am certain there are some teens who live like this, I see absolutely no reason to glorify this lifestyle.

It pains me to think that these two supposedly represent the high achievers at their school. Antonio seriously thinks he is going to earn a four-year, full-ride *academic* college scholarship with his B+ grade point average. Miesha thinks fashion schools are going to compete for her even though she is doing absolutely nothing to build a portfolio for admission. The other young people in the book are of equal or even lesser ability and quality. Attitude alone won't cut it but that is, by and large, all these kids have. In reality they are shallow, navel-gazing youths with only slightly-above-average ability and huge entitlement complexes.

The parents are often out of the picture leaving the kids unattended for days at a time. Drinking is openly allowed and even some drug use. Buckets of money get handed out so the kids don't even have to think about finding jobs. Cars (and presumably gasoline) are also provided. The fathers sleep with anything that moves and the mothers hate the fathers but can't quite get away from them. The teachers are equally appalling. One openly bullies Miesha throughout the year, academic rigor and honesty is questionable, and one teacher repeatedly commits statutory rape (I checked New Jersey law) against several students. That teacher gets fired, but the whole thing is treated like it is just more sex and not that big a deal. It is absolutely ABOMINABLE to gloss over rape in that way! For that reason alone, I despise this book.

The repeated in-text plugs for Ni-Ni Simone's books are poor form, but a comparatively minor annoyance.

There is not a single character in this book, youth or adult, who I would want my child to emulate. If I absolutely *had* to recommend this book to anyone, I would give it to an education major who is wearing rose-colored glasses so they might see what kind of students they could end up teaching. ( )

I found this book quite interesting. Before this, I had never read anything that focused on young African Americans and how they think and act as this book does. Of course, there are times when both Antonio and Miesha don’t act as if they are anything but self-centered and somewhat vapid, but I have seen this same attitude/action in young people of all backgrounds and experiences act much the same way, so I am not going to hold it against them or the author, as one reviewer did. This book is about young love. Antonio is a user of girls, a “love ’em and leave ’em” guy. But so is Miesha. Of course, when Antonio and Miesha are about to get together, his jealous ex jumps in to try to ruin things, leaving the two main characters to figure out what they and love are all about. I think many teenagers would be able to relate to this story. In particular, I applaud the author for creating a novel in which young African Americans are the main players. There are so few of them like this one, where they are not getting into trouble or jail, around, and it helps to stimulate interest in reading to have a character you can easily relate to. I also like the fact that the reader can use a lot of what they say and do in this situation to help them grow and mature. I received this book from Library Thing to read and review. ( )