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Reviewed by:
  • Love & Lies: Marisol's Story
  • April Spisak
Wittlinger, Ellen; Love & Lies: Marisol's Story. Simon, 2008; [256p] ISBN 978-1-4169-1623-9 $16.99 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 9-12

In this companion novel to Hard Love (BCCB 7/99), Gio, the zine author who struggled with unrequited love, takes a backseat to the young lesbian he fell for, Marisol. Marisol is pleased to reconnect with Gio in a weekend writing class, but she has more pressing issues on her mind: ignoring the romantic advances of a newly outed girl, Lee, whom she finds intriguing but too young, while actively pursuing a relationship with her hot writing teacher. Marisol, passionate and impetuous, learns the hard-won lesson that lust does not always translate into love, realizing too late what she missed in Lee, the girl who had been crushing on her for months. Wittlinger avoids an idealized ending, not only leaving Marisol to sort out the romantic mess she made of her life but also developing her as a character wise enough to realize she doesn't really deserve Lee right now anyway. The emotional morass of Marisol's life, surrounded by high-maintenance friends, caught up in her own desire to find significance through her writing, and haunted by ways she has hurt friends in the past, is complex and realistic; it will draw in both fans of the earlier novel, who will find her narrative voice an intriguing contrast to Gio's masculine one, and realistic-fiction readers seeking a love story with depth.

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