ANYTHING TO HAVE YOU

An insightful examination of a longtime friendship soured by romance and personality conflicts.

Natalie, the serious one, has been best friends with Brooke, the wild one, for years. Natalie can’t get over her attraction to Brooke’s boyfriend, Aiden, but she does control her actions. When Brooke is finally able to drag Natalie to a wild party, Natalie drinks too much and blacks out, waking to realize that she had sex the night before—but she cannot remember anything about the encounter. She assumes she slept with handsome Eric, who seems truly attracted to her, and continues to spend innocent friendly time with Aiden. Brooke knows that Natalie’s more compatible with Aiden than she is, but she’s determined to defend her territory even as she flirts with other boys. Alternately related by Natalie and Brooke with real-world frankness, the plot covers events through both girls’ eyes, delivering full portraits of each. Readers will be able to spot the flaws in each character and perhaps will guess the book’s surprise, but the emphasis is on character development, not suspense. How do the girls react to undercurrents of emotions that each feels but cannot discuss? Harbison’s good, solid prose displays real insight into the dynamics of the girls’ friendship.

With characters and situations readers will recognize, Harbison scores.