Review: When It Happens by Susane Colasanti

Title: When It Happens by Susane Colasanti

Released: May 4, 2006 by Viking

Pages: 287

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed by: Carey

At the start of her senior year in high school, Sara wants two things: to get into a top college and to find true love.Tobey also wants two things for his senior year: to win Battle of the Bands and to make Sara fall in love with him. However, a popular jock named Dave moves in on Sara first. But Tobey’s quirky wit and big blue eyes are hard for Sara to ignore. Plus, he gets the little things that matter to her. Can a slacker rock-star wannabe win the heart of a pretty class brain like Sara?

Hilariously and movingly told through Tobey and Sara’s authentic voices, Susane Colasanti’s debut novel sizzles in its portrayal of two young people searching for The One. 

***

First of all: Susane Colasanti is tied for my favorite author, along with Sarah Dessen. Second of all, I'm in the middle of rereading all of my Colasanti books right now, so I will probably be reviewing all seven of her books right now. Actually, just six, because last year before my unofficial hiatus, I did review Keep Holding On.

I found this book around the end of March 2012. I had only then been getting back into reading, thanks to Sarah Dessen, and my growing obsession with her books. I only had one book of her's left to read: Lock and Key. And I could not find it anywhere. Barnes and Noble did not have it, and that was the only major bookstore around my area. Walmart/Target didn't have it, and neither did the cute little used bookstore in my old town. That was when Janice, the owner, called another bookstore a town over, asking them if they had a copy. And they did.

When I got to the bookstore, they didn't have it set out for me. They directed me to the YA section, and I thanked them. I instantly found it, and almost left, but then I saw the cover of When It Happens. I'm not going to lie: I judge books by their covers. I mean, come on. Everyone does!  And this book, right next to D for Dessen, was sitting with it's cover facing me. I instantly fell in love with it. I scanned the back, seeing if I would be interested in it, and then made sure it was written in first person point of view, and I bought it. I had never heard of who Susane was until that day.

About two weeks later, I was in a horrible car accident, causing me to be on bed rest for five months. I was stuck on the couch on a bunch of pain killers for what seemed like forever. And then , once I got used to being loopy all the time, I remembered this book, just sitting on my bookshelf. 

I fell in love immediately with Sara. I loved how she wanted to be so zen. I loved how driven she was.I loved how she wanted Mister Perfect. And then Tobey, oh, Lord, Tobey. He's so quirky and adorable and he plays guitar, of course I fell in love with him. I loved that Susane wrote in both points of view. I love how she made each character view things somewhat differently with their perspective chapters. I loved her writing style, I loved the romance, and I loved how Tobey chased after Sara for so long and finally got her, despite the asshole who is Dave.

This was Susane's debut novel, and it was perfect, honestly. It's weird to think that it came out in 2006, and  I didn't even know about it until 2012. But I'm glad that I did, because now she is my favorite author.

I guess this turned into a Susane Colasanti review in general, rather than for When It Happens. Awkward.

This book is honestly such a fun read in my opinion. It took a couple of chapters to get used to the dual point of view--- every other chapter is a different narrator (either Sara or Tobey). But it was just so real. Sara and her friends have such realistic high school problems, like not being the smart friend, worrying about relationships, their parents splitting up, sex, everything that actually happens their senior year. Even Tobey and his friends, with being slackers, and that they're in a band, everything. It's just so realistic. 

And it's just so simple and honest. I know high schoolers don't want to admit this, but all we do is talk about relationships. Okay, at least 95% of the time. Some people would be irritated because it's pretty much only about relationships and how Tobey is trying to steal Sara away from Dave, but I think it's just so honest. Like, that really is what high schoolers do. If you don't say so, you're lying to yourself.

I think Susane did such a good job with this because when she wrote When it Happens, she was still a high school teacher. Props to her.

Five out of five stars, Susane Colasanti. You go, Susane Colasanti.