Until this summer, the biggest problems 16-year-old Samantha Davis faced were her embarrassingly large breasts, (nicknamed "the Grand Tetons after those mountains in Wyoming,") and the fact that her gorgeous best friend, Kitty, always made her feel like a Plain Jane: "It sounds awful, but if you saw a Jaguar and a Ford Taurus parked next to each other, which one would you want to drive?" But now Sammie's parents are splitting, and suddenly she is being assaulted by changes from every direction. She is forced to move from upstate New York to Manhattan, play nursemaid to her depressed mother, and suffer the utter boredom of not knowing anyone in a city of 8 million. But then she meets Eli, the cute "crunchy granola" son of her mom's friend, and Phoebe, the quirky girl in Central Park who categorizes people by the dog breed they resemble. Exposure to the urban scene, new friendships, and a developing sense of self cause Sammie to realize "that along with love comes other four-letter words. Like hate, obviously.... And gain. And most important, grow."

Like other recently published first novelists Lori Aurelia Williams (When Kambia Elaine Flew in from Neptune) and Cat Bauer, (Harley: Like a Person), Carolyn Mackler convincingly captures all the drama, longing, and humor of 21st-century female adolescence. Fresh, funny, and completely irreverent, Love and Other Four-Letter Words is destined to find a place in the hearts of teenaged girls. (Ages 12 and older) --Jennifer Hubert