Kissing Annabel: Love, Ghosts, and Facial Hair; A Place Like This (Paperback)

by Steven Herrick (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Love's a curious thing.

Jack is an average sixteen-year-old. He's obsessed with sex, sports, and his maturing body. He's got a lot on his plate, but one issue is constantly on his mind: his mother's death. It's been seven years, but Jack has yet to let her go....That is, until he meets Annabel.

Annabel is beautiful, smart, and most important, she gets Jack. Suddenly love makes sense, and the future seems hopeful. And for the first time, Jack feels ready to leave the past where it belongs.

About the Author
Steven Herrick is one of Australia's most popular poets. His books for teens include Love, Ghosts, & Facial Hair; A Place Like This; and The Simple Gift.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Simon Pulse (January 27, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416982876
• ISBN-13: 978-1416982876
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,027,235 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Courtesy of Teens Read Too, February 11, 2009

By	TeensReadToo.com "Eat. Drink. Read. Be Merrier." (All Over the US & Canada) - See all my reviews

Originally released in Australia as two separate works in 1996 and 1998 respectively, KISSING ANNABEL is a compilation of two related stories in poetry.

The majority of the work is told by Jack. In the first story, his mother has been dead for seven years. He struggles to overcome the ghost of his mother. He turns to his sister, Desiree, for advice on clothes, girls, and even sex. Everything he'd have turned to his mother for. His father is drowning in his own grief, so the two haven't had a meaningful conversation in years.

It's only after Jack finally gets the nerve to ask Annabel out does he start to overcome his grief. He has been attracted to Annabel for ages, but has always been shy and afraid to approach her. The two soon spend all their time together, and because of Annabel, Jack can finally say goodbye to his mother properly.

In the second story, two years have passed, and Jack and his family have moved on. But Jack is restless. He's done with school and has dropped out of university, finding it pointless. After talking to his dad, his father gives his consent to let Jack and Annabel take the year off to travel.

Jack and Annabel set off in a brown car that his father helped him buy. Annabel takes the trip with a grain of salt. She knows it won't turn out to be the trip that Jack envisions. To prove her point, after the second day, they run out of gas and find themselves working at an apple orchard.

At the orchard they meet George and his family. Emma is his sixteen-year-old daughter, who is pregnant and doesn't know the father. But Emma is growing up quicker than she had planned. Watching the devotion between Annabel and Jack gives her new purpose in her life and the baby growing inside of her.

Though the stories were written more than ten years ago, they seem just as relevant today as they did then. Told in a timeless way, Jack, Annabel, Emma, and the rest of the characters grow and come to learn more about themselves and the others around them. Beautifully written, the stories will stay with you long after the cover has been closed.

(Note: There is a lot of sexual content in this book, which might not be suitable for all readers.)

Reviewed by: Jaglvr