Getting Over Garrett Delaney (review)

For years, Sadie has been Garrett's faithful best friend, patiently offering her ear and her shoulder as he falls in and out of love with other girls and molding her dreams and inclinations to his artistic and alternative sensibilities. The problem is that she's desperately in love with him. She figures absence might make his heart grow fonder when he's away at writing camp, but when he calls let her know that he has fallen in love for real she decides she's had enough. Her mom's work as a life coach provides her with a self-help model, and her friends step in with distracting activities, advice, and perspective, and soon enough Sadie is on her way to finding out who she is without Garrett. The realism here is refreshing and affirming, as Sadie gradually realizes just how entangled she has allowed herself to become in Garrett's worldview, which is actually kind of snobby and affected. She's reluctant to give him up as a friend, however, and this too offers a site for realistic conflict resolution, as she has to reject her friends' pleas to give him up completely and work out a way of protecting her heart and her newfound sense of self from the magnetic pull that attracted her to Garrett in the first place. McDonald moves with sure-footed grace through Sadie's heartbreak and recovery, adding in the perfect pinch of schadenfreude for readers when Garrett finally realizes what a great girl he's been missing all along. Sadie's self-work is quietly inspirational and satisfying, offering genuine hope for the unrequited romantic.