THE HEARTBREAKERS

Best friends Raven, Sydney, Kelly and Alexia are close, but nothing brings a friendship closer than commiserating over a breakup. In this romantic dramedy, Raven, Sydney and Kelly all break up with their boyfriends, leading boyfriendless Alexia to help them devise a set of rules for surviving breakups. The rules, which include Do Not think about your past with The Ex and You must not write The Ex letters or text messages saying you miss him, seem easy enough to follow in the solitude of Alexia’s living room. In the real world of high school, however, the rules seem to cause nothing but trouble. Sydney’s ex might be interested in Kelly. Alexia feels as though she’s betraying her friends because she’s falling for Kelly’s ex’s brother. Raven’s crush wants her to sing in his garage band, an idea to which her mother is vehemently opposed. Somehow, the girls have to figure out a way to balance the rules with what their hearts desire. The busy story line is sometimes difficult to follow because each chapter features a different girl. Chick-lit readers will be drawn to the premise and the pink on the cover, but they may find the descriptions clunky, the characters indistinguishable from one another, and the writing not as lighthearted or breezy as the flap copy promises. (Fiction. YA)