Book Review: The Darlings In Love

Author: Melissa Kantor

Publication Date: December 18, 2012 (Paperback)

Publisher: Hyperion

Series: The Darlings are Forever # 2

The Darlings have just begun their second semester of ninth grade, and love is in the air.

Victoria: The sweetheart
Jack: The irresistible songwriter...but is he writing off Victoria?

Natalya: The overachiever
Colin: The perfect match, if only the game were less complicated.

Jane: The drama queen
Simon: The Greek god... of mixed signals.

 
In the face of both joy and heartbreak, the Darlings know that they'll always have each other. Boys come and go, but the Darlings are still forever.

“Well, when you think about it, aren’t love and biology always the same thing?” – Paperback Copy pg. 9

“She, on the other hand, was sailing the ocean of love as a first-class passenger on the Titanic.” – Paperback Copy pg. 15

“My point is that even in the real world, when someone dumps you, you still love that person. Maybe just for a little while, maybe forever.” – Paperback Copy pg. 52

“It was as if Hallmark had understood how important it was for couples to have time alone together and had carved one day out of the calendar that was just for people in love.” – Paperback Copy pg. 135 & 136

“‘I can’t Colin. I’m sorry, but I can’t.’ She took the phone from her ear and pressed END CALL. AS she watched his name disappear from her screen, she wondered if she would ever see it there again.” – Paperback Copy pg. 305

This story was about as cute as they come. It follows three girls: Victoria, Jane, and Natalya as they experience their first loves and their first heartbreaks. They are three best friends who call themselves ‘The Darlings’ and have remained best friends even though they are not attending different schools. Each of the girls has developed her own little crush and the three boys could not be more different from each other. The chapters alternate between the three girls including each one’s perspective. We also receive a little background knowledge in each chapter as far as what is going on in their lives and with their families.

Melissa Kantor really captures the idea of first love and that giddy feeling that young girls get in their stomachs after realizing that they have developed a crush. Not everyone will enjoy this book because we are dealing with fourteen year olds and at times I thought the feelings that they sometimes shared and the thoughts they were having was a little mature for a fourteen year old. Maybe if they were eighteen or nineteen it would have seemed more realistic. When I think first crush, I think sweaty palms while holding hands and being dropped off to the movies by mom and dad, not long passionate kisses in an apartment alone while your parents are out. No, I just couldn’t picture this scene for a fourteen year old and take it seriously.

I loved the friendship between these girls and the fact that they called themselves ‘The Darlings.’ I just wish that there had been more time with them together. A lot of the book is told when each girl is at her school and away from the other Darlings. They do interact a lot via text message and things to that nature, but I wanted them to have sleepovers, lunch dates, and girl’s nights. I did, however, appreciate the fact that each girl had other friends outside of the Darlings. They each had their own likes and dislikes and they each had their own hobbies. It is important to not let your friends define you, and I think this message was spread well throughout the book.

Young love is a difficult thing and it doesn’t always result in a happy ending. I think this book will make some readers, like myself, remember what it was like when they developed their first crush, but other readers may find this book entirely too juvenile. It all depends on your taste.

***A big thank you to the publishers at Hyperion for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review***