THWONK

A.J. McCreary, 17, lives for two things: her photography and her as-yet unrequited love for class hunk Peter Terris. The former is suffering from the latter and A.J. is mired in a deep, very funny funk when a love-worn, mournful but supremely helpful cupid named Jonathan appears and offers her academic, artistic, or romantic success (or at least, her idea of romantic success). As a result of her choice, Peter becomes A.J.'s love toy, nearly sick with his worship of her and making spectacles of them both wherever they go. When the spell is, as it must be, ultimately reversed, A.J. is dateless again, but now she revels in it. A.J. is a hilarious, self-consciously angst-ridden teen of the first order, and though readers know from the first moment of her decision what's in store for her, it's to Bauer's credit that this wacky ride through adolescent affairs of the heart never grows predictable. Though not as perfectly realized as Squashed! (1992), this is a fine romance, with plenty of hitches. (Fiction. 12+)