The Boy I Loved Before [Paperback]

Jenny Colgan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 10, 2005

While attending her best friend Sashy's wedding, Flora Scurrison realizes that this monotonous, nine-to-five, cookie-cutter life is exactly what's in store for her. While it might be okay for Sashy, it's certainly not what she envisioned for herself when she was sixteen. So when her boyfriend proposes to her during the reception, Flora makes a wish to go back and do it all over again. The next morning she wakes up to find that she has been given the ultimate second chance--she's sixteen again. As Flora navigates school, first loves--new and old--and discovers what it really means to make adult choices, will she stay in her new body or try and find her way home?

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The joys of being 16 are amply explored in this back-to-the-present comedy of second chances. At the start of Colgan's funny, fast-moving fifth novel, 32-year-old London accountant Flora Scurrison realizes that she can't bear the monotony of her job and her dependable boyfriend, Oliver. So when she sees her high school love, Clelland, for the first time in 16 years at her best friend Tashy's wedding, she can't help wondering what her life would be like with this globe-trotting hunk rather than with steady, unexciting Oliver. As Tashy cuts the wedding cake, Flora wishes herself 16 again and gets a chance to make new choices about love, career and risk. She can keep her father from cheating on her mother and be the coolest kid in high school—not to mention ogle her svelte self in the mirrors at Top Shop. Strangely enough, though Flora is 16 again, only her parents have been transformed with her, and it's still the year 2003. Flora's interactions with a new Britney Spears generation of teenagers as well as with the grown-up friends who recognize her in her adolescent incarnation give the familiar plot a fresh twist. Cleverly constructed and often hilarious, this is an enjoyable addition to the annals of body-switching.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Thirty-two-year-old Flora Scurrison has a good job and a boyfriend, but somehow her life feels off track. As she attends the wedding of her best friend, Tashy, Flora realizes that she hates her job as an accountant and that this--the white dress, the vows, the cake--are not what she wants with her boyfriend, Olly. As Tashy and her new husband cut into the wedding cake, Flora thinks back to the dreams they had as teenagers and wishes she could do it all over again. The next morning, Flora wakes up with a literal second chance: she is 16 again, and it is one month before Tashy's wedding. Flora has one month to decide if she should remain a teenager or go back to her old life. The time-travel plot seems gimmicky at first--and a bit stale, given the latest remake of Freaky Friday--but Colgan rises to the challenge, emphasizing the choice rather than the switch itself. The result is a tender and affecting story about growing up, love, disappointment, and regret. Beth Leistensnider
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Paperback: 306 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin; First Edition edition (February 10, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312331983
• ISBN-13: 978-0312331986
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,884,501 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Uneven, but the ending redeems it, March 15, 2005

By 

Bearette24 (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Boy I Loved Before (Paperback)

This is a travel-back-in-time story a la "Big" and "13 Going on 30", but with a twist. In this case, Flora's parents go back in time with her, and only people who love Flora recognize her in her 16-year-old body.

Much of the book is shallow and lacks an emotional core, but toward the end, Flora makes a connection with a boy her "age" and makes peace with her issues in a believable way. She also manages to make things better for the people she loves as a result of her time travel.

Overall, though Colgan's prose is glib without a lot of depth for much of the book, the ending is very satisfying and makes the book as a whole worth reading.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not Colgan's best, April 9, 2005

By 

RachFalls (NJ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Boy I Loved Before (Paperback)

Was I the only one who noticed that the back of the book couldn't even get the character's names right (It's Sashy on the back, Tashy throughout the book)? I've read Colgan's other books (Talking to Addison, Amanda's Wedding), and I was disappointed in this one. It was still Colgan's writing, but the characters didn't hook me. I'm so tired of reading about women who are apathetic about the man they're with (both Flo and Tashy/Sashy are)- shouldn't authors start giving readers some credit for recognizing when their characters are so obviously in a dead-end relationship? Do they think women are that pathetic and desperate? In any case, when the first three chapters so clearly indicated that Flo and Tashy were with men they didn't even really like, no less love, I almost put the book down. But I kept going because I thought the premise of the book was so good. And once Flo becomes a teenager again, it did pick up. Still, I wished Colgan had been a little more original with her characters, and a lot less predicatable. I'd read another Colgan book first before picking up this one.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Quick, Enjoyable Read, April 9, 2006

By 

Donna Reynolds (Syracuse, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Boy I Loved Before (Paperback)

I have a confession to make. I normally don't read books set in England. I don't know why; maybe it's because I can't relate to the locations. I pulled this off the shelf at the library and didn't realize it was set in England until I began reading it. I almost stopped right there, but the storyline is one of my favorites so I continued. I am glad I did.

Colgan was able to capture the confusion of her character and the incredible sense of a 32-year old being trapped in a 16-year old's body. I loved that. How amazing it would be to be able to "see" oneself at that age once again. It's easy to look back on our teenage years and think life was great, but we certainly do forget how confining it was and how, once we get used to the freedoms of adulthood, it would be impossible to go backwards.

I liked the character and found her situation to be both silly and interesting. I also like the conclusion of the story. It was very satisfying. All in all, I really enjoyed this book, and read it in one sitting. And yes, I also noticed the errors in Tashy's name in the questions at the end of the book!