So Much Closer
Author: Susane Colasanti
Release Date: May 3, 2011
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Brooke is in love. With Scott. And he has absolutely no idea. But that’s not important; what’s important is that Brooke KNOWS that Scott is the one for her. So when Scott’s family moves from New Jersey to New York City, Brooke follows him. She knows that if she can just get him to see her for who she really is, he will fall in love with her too.

But moving to New York City isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Brooke lives with her dad, whom she has a bit of a tumultuous relationship with, and Scott still barely notices her. Her two best friends from home are growing distant, and Brooke wonders if she made the right choice. On the other hand, she is quickly falling in love with the Big Apple and even makes two new friends, but will it be enough to keep her satisfied?

A HUGE Colasanti fan, I was thrilled when my good friend Meg mailed me a copy of this book a few months ago. I promised myself that I would wait to read it a bit closer to its release date on May 3, so when I finally picked up this book a few days ago, I was excited. Unfortunately though, this book fell a little flat for me.

My main problem was with our main character Brooke. From page one on, I didn’t like her. I couldn’t find anything about her to root for, and at times, I even thought she was a bit delusional. I mean, who literally moves from one state to the other for a boy? In high school? And for a boy who barely even knows she exists. I don’t know. I found this hard to believe, and from that point on, I found Brooke extremely difficult to relate to.

In terms of Brooke’s indecisiveness, I actually found this part of the book to be pretty realistic. What high school senior *really* knows what they want to do upon graduation? However, while I could empathize with Brooke on this, I could NOT get behind her lack of caring for school, and even for getting her college applications finished. I found myself completely frustrated with Brooke.

Even though I struggled to like Brooke in the beginning of the book, I did find myself coming around for her towards the end. I think she definitely grew throughout the novel, and it was nice to see her grow up. Brooke definitely learned some tough lessons throughout the course of the book, and it was interesting to see her go from essentially rock bottom to having goals and a plan.

Thank goodness for characters like John and Sadie. These two awesome characters kept me reading and kept me interested in the story. John was completely unique- nothing like any male love interest character that I’ve read before. His genuine interest in Brooke and in teaching her about New York City captured me. I was rooting for John the entire time (especially because Scott wasn’t even a likable character!).  And if I could choose a best friend for myself, I’d choose Sadie. What an awesome, sweet girl. I fell in love with her warm-fuzzy notes, despite the cheesiness. Sadie’s character made me smile.

My absolute favorite part of this book was the incredibly realistic descriptions of New York City. I’ve been to NYC several times, but I’ve never really had the chance to truly explore, so Colasanti’s descriptions of the different streets and neighborhoods made me really want to hop on a bus to the Big Apple to check it out for myself. Knowing that Colasanti herself is from New York City made this aspect of the book all the more intriguing and wonderful.

While this wasn’t my favorite Colasanti book,  I’m still a huge fan of the lovely Susane Colasanti and look forward to her next book.

3/5