Isabelle's Boyfriend

This is a lovely YA book by Caroline Hickey. I was expecting a very chick-lit type of young adult book, which would be fun, but this book is a bit more than that and I really ended up liking this book a lot and I could totally relate to Taryn even though I have never had an experience quite like hers.

Taryn is walking her mom's dog, Camille, one snowy night when she runs into Epp, a drop dead gorgeous guy also out for a walk. After she meets him and finds out that Epp is Isabelle Graham's boyfriend, Taryn comes up with a way to have more interactions with Epp. While she and Isabelle live close by each other they are not really friends. However, after Taryn dreams up the idea of writing an article for the school paper about the difference between boys and girls athletics and interviews Isabelle for the article - and eventually Epp, she has to come up with a way to back up this plot she dreamed up. Taryn does actually join the paper and tries to write an article for it. The whole time this is going one Isabelle, who had really never given Taryn the time of day before, starts really befriending Taryn. Epp even sets Taryn up with a friend of his, Pete. In fact things are going along rather well. Taryn's mom takes Taryn shopping for some beautiful new clothes to wear to her first ever dance. Things could go along perfectly and no one would ever know that Taryn harbored a crush on Epp, except that Taryn quit the paper after realizing she was not able to write the article and came clean about her motives to the editor. When Taryn runs into the editor at a party where she has been drinking (the editor, not Taryn) and things come out about Taryn's motives things can't just quietly go away.

I knew as I was reading that Taryn was probably not going to be able to hide her original motives....it is a better story if there is some type of conflict and then resolution. The ending is totally satisfying and while Taryn did do some kind of rotten things, it is hard not to like her and realize that she is a good person underneath some bad decision making.

To find out more about Caroline Hickey, check out her website.