Leigh is a popular athlete from New York City. Maia is a wise yet strange suburbanite. Disaster in the form of a family member’s death brings them together. This, however, is a story of love, not romance. Maia and Leigh’s path is fraught with relationship baggage, Maia’s host of self-injurious behaviors and Leigh’s inability to say no to anyone. Leigh brings about the end of their relationship when he beats up another student in an attempt to defend Maia’s honor. Readers who love doomed, tearjerker romances will be enthralled by Leigh and Maia’s fate, if they stay with the story through Leigh’s complicated family angst and personal apathy. Freymann-Weyr does a lot of telling without showing to fill in Leigh’s background and emotional states, which makes the pacing drag. The story moves back and forth in time, and the delineation between the two isn’t always clear. The book’s strengths lie in the characterizations and the author’s ability to convey the many complex layers of love. With its wise writing and literary word choices, this is a smart book with questionable popularity. (Fiction. 14 & up)
