'Waiting' ... and waiting ...

Marisa doesn't want to be known as Freak Girl like she was during freshman year. So she's made a pact along with perky best friend Sterling to become more sociable and cool - and get a boyfriend who reflects those qualities. Marisa pines for the popular Derek, who is paying attention to her in art class; but she also has to contend with her geeky chemistry partner Nash, who may have a crush on her. The rest of her life isn't going as smoothly: her parents are on the outs, Sterling's obsessed with online dating, and her anxiety disorder is becoming hard to deal with. Throughout her sophomore year, Marisa experiences many ups and downs - her first kiss, her mother betraying her trust, Sterling acting moody, an unexpected friendship with Nash. To cap it all off, she becomes beguiled with a mysterious podcast host who rants and raves about high school, relationship problems, and the everyday issues of being a teen - and she feels like he's speaking directly to her.

There's a lot going on in this book, but it's less interesting than it might appear. Colasanti stacks the deck for the neurotic Marisa, but a lot of it feels empty or warmed-over. This is due mostly to completely two-dimensional and lackluster prose that fails to induce much emotion or connection with the reader. Instead of feeling stuffed with story, as the above summary may imply, the plot rolls limply along with little sense of how time passes. The result is that it's hard to care about the main character's development. Marisa is passable as a heroine; apart from her battles with depression (which is believably rendered) there is little that sets her apart from others. Her voice varies from bland to insightful. There is a cute love story to be found in here, and the predictable ending doesn't really ruin the experience. Marisa's relationship with her father is endearing and I wish there had been more of a focus on that (in contrast, her mother is a cardboard cut-out of a character). There is a small message about not worrying about the future that's not overdone. But the book shallow overall: most characters are placeholders or stereotypes, and the passive writing just drags the story down. There's not much passion to it.

A so-so read. Rating: 3 IM chats out of 5.