Fifteen Love [Hardcover]

Robert Corbet (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2003

Mia thinks boys are immature. They only talk about cars and sports. They only think about sex.

Will has no idea what girls talk about. He wishes he were a fly on the wall. He wishes he had a tape recorder and a hidden microphone ....

Fifteen Love is a funny up-and-down story about a boy and a girl, a viola and a tennis racquet; about family and friends, flirting and true love.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 8-10-Corbet alternates between the voices of Mia Foley and Will Holland, both 15. Her world is turning upside down as she discovers that her father is having an affair. Her anger and frustration surface and affect not only her home life, but also her social interactions and her performance playing the viola. Will's younger brother was always the athlete, but now he is in a wheelchair and it's up to Will to live out the fantasies of his brother and his coach/father on the tennis court. The story is witty and fresh; the internal dialogue of each character is on par with the thoughts of a typical teenager. Mia's friends are fickle and self-consumed, but not destructively so, and their interactions are authentic. Both characters volley between liking one another and being confused, and their emotions are heartfelt and honest. Parents are developed candidly, but not unfairly. Because of the conversational narrative, the story will be a hit with reluctant as well as general readers. One caveat: Corbet sometimes chooses not to finish the word of a proper name or store ("-when K**** did her concert," "Vanessa wouldn't be caught dead in T---," etc.), which becomes tiresome. Otherwise, the novel is appealing on many levels-it is funny, quirky, and satisfyingly romantic.
Delia Fritz, Mercersburg Academy, PA
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 7-10. Will and Mia, two young teens, feel the spark of attraction, yet are fated to alienate one another with misunderstandings, thwarted expectations, and gender stereotypes. Additionally, they must deal with their families, especially Mia's philandering father and Will's pushy dad, an athletic coach who wants Will to become a tennis star. In a format reminiscent of a tennis match--short lobs or long volleys delivered by the two teen voices--the relationship unfolds. Although the story occasionally bogs down in all the angst and misunderstandings, this is an authentic portrayal of middle-class teens who are focused primarily on how they fit in with family, friends, and the opposite sex. The most interesting character is Will's disabled brother, Dan, who watches Will's gradual maturity and its sexual implications and longs for something similar in his own poignant, brain-damaged way. The relationship between the two brothers is realistic and heartwarming, a bonus in a story that may fill that occasional request for a "boys' romance." Frances Bradburn
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Walker Books for Young Readers (March 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802788513
• ISBN-13: 978-0802788511
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,738,296 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I LOVE IT!!!, February 4, 2007

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Fifteen Love (Hardcover)

hmm...
You really need to read this book, its awesome! lol
Im not kiding... The characters are real and I promise you will relate to these characters!!!
I love it and you need to tooo!!!

4.0 out of 5 stars Corbet's Second Serve is an Ace, December 11, 2005

By 

James N Simpson (Gold Coast, QLD Australia) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Fifteen Love (Paperback)

Robert Corbet's first serve into the literature world Passenger Seat, lets face it was pretty average, and that's being nice. He didn't give up though and has picked up the ball and continued his career match and hasn't just written a book that is good with his second literary serve but is in fact an ace. For those of us who have also read his third book Shelf Life we know that he now knows how to hit the writing ball properly and that Fifteen Love wasn't just a fluke.

Fifteen Love is the story of two fifteen year olds who have noticed each other at school but have either been too afraid to approach the other or don't want to upset their social standing. It is cleverly written in a style that jumps between the narrative of Mia and Will for each paragraph in the same style spectators near the net in a tennis match have to keep switching their vision back and forth between the two ends of the court to where the action is. A very entertaining light read.

4.0 out of 5 stars How to Win Love, October 15, 2003

By 

Myla (USA, CA.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fifteen Love (Hardcover)

Will and Mia are two seperate people that perhaps fate brought together. Throughout their journey finding each other through love, mistakes and problems occure, including friends and family getting involved. Fifteen Love gives and wants to share the credible story of a girl and a boy finding true love and how much they have to go through to recieve that special feeling.
This books describes the clear understanding of a boy's point of view on girls and a girl's point of view on a boy. Boys would talk about the girl they are falling for or sex, while the girl talk about what guys expect from them and about "boy trouble." Throughtout the book, Robert Corbet goes back and forth to Mia and then Will on how both see how the vibe of love grows between them two.
Robert Corbet creates his story with two opposite characters. Will being the humble,ordinary, young boy, while Mia on the other hand is an adventureous girl who is not afraid to find out what is really happening. Will is the kind of guy that would strive to get what he wants and that is Mia and keeps his promise to his father for playing extra hard in tennis for the behalf of his brother Dave. Mia goes on and starts making the first impression and move by talkin to Will to start their relationship. Also, when she finds out one day, she saw her father in the car with a blonde nurse with red lipstick going back to the house to pick up his doctor equipment.
Mia and Will are the main characters within this stroy, but at some points, other characters such as Vannessa with all her boy trouble or Dave can take charge of the story and become more interesting. Vannessa is always involved with boys in some what way as two guys fighting for her or she doesn't know what to do with a boy. With Dave, he became disabled at an early age of nine diving in a pool and hiting his head. Now he is in a wheel chair missing all the fun his brother is experienceing and becomes jealous. The jealousy becomes a problem involving the Will and Mia and this is when the drama begins. Problems always occure, but what can resolve this? The relationship between this two brothers are to be found, finding the solution.
There are always problems and obstacles in life and especially at a time of teenage years. At this age, one most be prepard and find the solution to every problem in one's way. Life is balanced and there are going to be bumbs and hills to climb over. Readers will fall in love with this book and will learn that life is all about striving to the end and not giving up, including how to win love.
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