WHEN IT HAPPENS

Sara is practicing creative visualization to achieve her goals during senior year; Tobey is practicing in his garage band. Sara imagines her ideal boyfriend as the popular Dave; Tobey considers giving up his slacker ways to win over Sara. In alternating voices, the teens realize that meaningless hook-ups leave them wanting “something real,” which they find in each other. Although they seem to be soul mates, Sara and Tobey must overcome jealousy, lies and past sexual encounters with a maturity (and a nod to a popular ’80s movie) well beyond most adolescents. Helping them along the way are sympathetic teachers, parents and friends. Realistic dialogue, multi-layered characters, musical references and issues that matter most to teens make this story happen. Like Sarah Dessen, Colasanti knows how teens operate. (Fiction. YA)