Waiting For You [Hardcover]

Susane Colasanti (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 14, 2009

Read Susane Colasanti's posts on the Penguin Blog.

At the beginning of her sophomore year, Marisa is ready for a fresh start and, more importantly, a boyfriend. So when the handsome and popular Derek asks her out, Marisa thinks her long wait for happiness is over. But several bumps in the road—including her parents’ unexpected separation, a fight with her best friend, and a shocking disappointment in her relationship with Derek—test Marisa’s ability to maintain her new outlook. Only the anonymous DJ, whose underground podcasts have the school’s ear, seems to understand what Marisa is going through. But she has no idea who he is—or does she?

In Waiting For You, this third romantic novel from Susane Colasanti, Marisa learns how to “be in the Now” and realizes that the love she’s been waiting for has been right in front of her all along.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 7–10—With summer camp over, Marissa and her best friend, Sterling, eagerly await the beginning of sophomore year. Reality kicks in the first day of school though, and, according to Marissa, "it majorly sucks." Sure, Derek is at least smiling at her, but her history of anxiety and depression still haunts her, even though she is determined to put it behind her. Nash, her old friend and next-door neighbor who has not spoken to her in several years, is assigned as her lab partner. She enjoys talking with him but thinks he is much too nerdy for her. As the school year progresses, Derek breaks up with his girlfriend and he and Marissa begin to date. Everything is going well until she realizes that Nash has fallen for her, her parents are splitting up because her mother has had an affair, Derek and his ex are spending a lot of time together, Sterling is about to hook up with a guy she met online who is at least six years older than she is, and her depression is returning. Marissa can become a bit tiresome and the story's pacing is uneven—parts of it seem to go on forever—but the teen and her friends are realistic as they struggle to make sense of high school, romance, and families and as they realize that not one of them has a perfect life and that they all need each other's friendship and love.—Janet Hilbun, University of North Texas, Denton
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Seems like there ought to be an advocacy group for the stereotyped hot guy of YA literature who is always portrayed as a cheating slimeball. This title follows a familiar story line: Marisa is thrilled when gorgeous Derek starts dating her, but it doesn’t last, and he is caught flirting heavily with his ex. The demise of her parents’ marriage coincides with Marisa’s own failing relationship, and astute readers will realize that her misplaced anger with her father should be redirected to her mother, who is the one having an affair. Throughout all this, nice, nerdy, next-door-neighbor Nash is there to support Marisa (and the rest of the school in his anonymous nightly advice podcasts, in which he answers e-mails and IMs). The twists in the plot are pretty transparent, and the language is peppered with enough “he goes,” “she’s like,” and “whatev’s” to signal the demise of grammatically correct English. Even so, the romance is less graphic than in many other similarly themed YA novels, and middle-school girls looking for love will find fulfillment here. Grades 7-10. --Cindy Dobrez

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Viking Juvenile; First Edition edition (May 14, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670011304
• ISBN-13: 978-0670011308
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #732,373 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Before becoming a full-time author, Susane Colasanti was a high school science teacher for almost ten years. Susane has a bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a master's degree from New York University. She lives in New York City.

Susane's sixth teen novel, KEEP HOLDING ON, will be released in June 2012.

You can connect with Susane at susanecolasanti.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sweet and genuine, May 14, 2009

By 

The Compulsive Reader (Big Rapids, MI, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Waiting For You (Hardcover)

Marisa is determined to make sophomore year great--she's going to make everyone forget how spacey she was last year when dealing with her anxiety disorder. She's made a pact with her best friend Sterling that from now on, they will live in the Now, and they will find boyfriends--there will be no more waiting.

But the new school year also brings some surprises as well: Marisa rekindles her friendship with her childhood buddy, the extremely nerdy Nash, and attracts the attention of charming and flirtatious Derek. Her unshakable parents are acting completely odd, and Sterling can't stop falling for older guys over the internet, a scary prospect. Marisa learns that sometimes things in life don't go the way they were planned--but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Waiting for You is a book that will really hit home with a lot of teens. At the center of the story is Marisa's struggle with waiting for that perfect someone who will love her for her, no matter what; a longing that is familiar to many. But rather than allowing the book to focus on that one want, Colasanti crafts a multi-layered read that digs deep into the details and captures the subtle nuances of friendship, school, and day-to-day life. Marisa is an engaging and refreshingly honest narrator with an authentic voice who sometimes gets too wrapped up in herself, but her genuinely kind qualities more than make up for it.

One of the best aspects of Waiting for You is how Colasanti weaves each of the situations and plot twists throughout the book seamlessly together to reinforce her main idea: the perfect guy isn't always what you expect him to be like, and not all great relationships can last forever. Waiting for You is a humorous, poignant, and quietly powerful book that will inspire readers to live their lives in the Now instead of waiting for something better.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars 3.5 Stars for Waiting For You, February 1, 2010

By 

L. Reeves "A Life Bound By Books" (US & UK, both I call home) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Waiting For You (Hardcover)

3.5 Stars - This was the first book I've read by Susane Colasanti and while it was a nice... it just didn't wow me. The story and the characters were enjoyable enough to keep my interest, making this an easy and quick read that I would have been able to finish in one sitting if I had more time when I first picked up the book.

The story between our main characters was often predictable. Marisa is the girl who wants to reinvent herself and try to figure out not only who she is, but what she wants - with the start of a new year in High School. Her crush is the popular guy, Derek who doesn't really even know who Marisa is. She ends up paired with boy, Nash who is a neighborhood friend from her past to work on a class project. It was the classic story of Invisible girl crushing on popular boy, Nerdy boy crushing on invisible girl. Not to forget about the quirky sidekick Sterling, or the mystery DJ that the school's talking about and was pretty easy to figure out whom this mysterious DJ was early on in the book.

By about halfway through reading you knew just where each character was headed and what was going to happen with the turn of each page. Not that it was bad, just no surprises.

Throughout the story we learn all that Marisa has been through last year and what she's dealing with now as her family hits a few pumps in the road. As a reader we see her struggle to keep a grasp on things around her as she tires not to slip back into anxiety that troubled her much of the year before. I was able to connect with Marisa in this aspect of her life as she struggles with anxiety. This part of the story was well written and shows us all that something such as anxiety can hit anyone and anytime, with no rhyme or reason.

The highlights were references to John Mayer songs and how each song can be a truth for just about anyone during various stages in your life. I did really enjoy these little references throughout the book and it was little things like that that made me enjoy this further.

I look forward to reading more books by this author in the future.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Waiting for You by Susane Colasanti, November 20, 2010

By 

C-Andersen - See all my reviews

This review is from: Waiting For You (Mass Market Paperback)

I really thought this book was terrible. I love books with cliches, as long as they have a good story behind it. This book was just a perfect girl "falling out". I understand that divorce, especially when adultery is involved, is serious, but this was just over dramatic and annoying.

Derrick never seemed too perfect to me after he started getting involved with his ex again. I personally would never put up with that and the fact that she did annoyed me. Dorky boys are cute, but Susane Colasanti made him seem way too dorky at first and then all of a sudden cool.

It also was odd for me to read the book because the main characters were younger than me and I normally enjoy reading book where the characters are older, even just by a little bit. The whole book was just ridiculous and I really wish I could return it.