I Do by Elizabeth Chandler
Cross-posted from Wordpress.
Retro Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Angie over at Angieville and focuses on reviewing books from the past. This can be an old favorite, an under-the-radar book you think deserves more attention, something woefully out of print, etc.
I'm going old school this week by featuring one of my absolute favorites back when I was in high school - I Do by Elizabeth Chandler. Teens are so lucky nowadays because they have so many YA books to read. When I was a teenager, there weren't a lot of choices in terms of reading material. I remember collecting as many books as I could in the Love Stories series published by Bantam Books because those were the only YA romance books that I knew about. My favorite books out of that series were the ones written by Elizabeth Chandler. It's funny because Angie was just talking about "make me feel better books" and this book is a comfort read for me.
Here's the summary from Goodreads:
Weddings are the perfect place to fall in love...
Jane is not looking forward to being the maid of honor in her cousin Stacy's wedding. To make matters worse, Adam, the biggest jerk at Tilson High, is going to be the best man! The last thing Jane wants to do is walk down the aisle with him. But the more Jane gets to know Adam, the more she realizes that he's actually a very cool guy. And now she finds herself wishing that the wedding would last forever...
Based on the summary, you can totally tell that it's a love-hate relationship, right? I'm such a sucker for those when it's done well. Jane is a sports writer in the school newspaper and her snark is in full force when she writes about the male varsity lacrosse team. She's frustrated that the team isn't maximizing its full potential and she doesn't understand why. Enter the team captain, Adam. He proves that he isn't a dumb jock by writing a letter to the editor in response to Jane's articles. Needless to say, these two don't get along. The fun starts when Jane suddenly gets drafted to become her cousin's maid of honor and it turns out that Adam the is best man. Sparks fly, swoon-worthy scenes turn up and there's even a one-on-one lacrosse match between these two. I also liked the secondary characters in this book, which is saying something considering that it's such a slim book and there's not a lot of room for development. Here's a conversation between Jane and her grandpa that I really liked:
"Things change when someone special comes into your life. Both sides have to give up things. The one thing you don't give up in a good relationship is you - whatever makes you most you."
"It's been my experience," he continued, "that when you're with the right people, you feel more like yourself than ever. There's a happiness, and a feeling of coming alive to yourself and the other person, that's like nothing else."
I don't know if I'm biased because I read this when I was younger and it's been a favorite ever since but I really love this book. While reading this, I didn't even know what lacrosse was. Well, I know it's a sport played in the States but I've never seen a game. I've reread my copy so many times that it's not just yellowed with age, it has become battered. I want to get a better copy but sadly, the book is out of print and it's not that easy to find copies. I tried to look for reviews from other book blogs but it looks like no one else has reviewed this. If any of you get a chance to read this, please let me know because I'd love to know what other people think of this book. Oh and if you've read this, did you like it as much as I did? :)
Retro Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Angie over at Angieville and focuses on reviewing books from the past. This can be an old favorite, an under-the-radar book you think deserves more attention, something woefully out of print, etc.
I'm going old school this week by featuring one of my absolute favorites back when I was in high school - I Do by Elizabeth Chandler. Teens are so lucky nowadays because they have so many YA books to read. When I was a teenager, there weren't a lot of choices in terms of reading material. I remember collecting as many books as I could in the Love Stories series published by Bantam Books because those were the only YA romance books that I knew about. My favorite books out of that series were the ones written by Elizabeth Chandler. It's funny because Angie was just talking about "make me feel better books" and this book is a comfort read for me.
Here's the summary from Goodreads:
Weddings are the perfect place to fall in love...
Jane is not looking forward to being the maid of honor in her cousin Stacy's wedding. To make matters worse, Adam, the biggest jerk at Tilson High, is going to be the best man! The last thing Jane wants to do is walk down the aisle with him. But the more Jane gets to know Adam, the more she realizes that he's actually a very cool guy. And now she finds herself wishing that the wedding would last forever...
Based on the summary, you can totally tell that it's a love-hate relationship, right? I'm such a sucker for those when it's done well. Jane is a sports writer in the school newspaper and her snark is in full force when she writes about the male varsity lacrosse team. She's frustrated that the team isn't maximizing its full potential and she doesn't understand why. Enter the team captain, Adam. He proves that he isn't a dumb jock by writing a letter to the editor in response to Jane's articles. Needless to say, these two don't get along. The fun starts when Jane suddenly gets drafted to become her cousin's maid of honor and it turns out that Adam the is best man. Sparks fly, swoon-worthy scenes turn up and there's even a one-on-one lacrosse match between these two. I also liked the secondary characters in this book, which is saying something considering that it's such a slim book and there's not a lot of room for development. Here's a conversation between Jane and her grandpa that I really liked:
"Things change when someone special comes into your life. Both sides have to give up things. The one thing you don't give up in a good relationship is you - whatever makes you most you."
"It's been my experience," he continued, "that when you're with the right people, you feel more like yourself than ever. There's a happiness, and a feeling of coming alive to yourself and the other person, that's like nothing else."
I don't know if I'm biased because I read this when I was younger and it's been a favorite ever since but I really love this book. While reading this, I didn't even know what lacrosse was. Well, I know it's a sport played in the States but I've never seen a game. I've reread my copy so many times that it's not just yellowed with age, it has become battered. I want to get a better copy but sadly, the book is out of print and it's not that easy to find copies. I tried to look for reviews from other book blogs but it looks like no one else has reviewed this. If any of you get a chance to read this, please let me know because I'd love to know what other people think of this book. Oh and if you've read this, did you like it as much as I did? :)