Robin in the Apple

Robin Miller, a small-town girl, spends the summer in New York. The city is even more wonderful than she'd dreamed, especially when she meets Chris, who appreciates her intellect and her poetry (other boys are put off by her verses about sunsets and her comparing life to watermelon). Then she goes to a poetry reading and falls for Paul, an egocentric artist. He isn't nice to her, but she doesn't mind. She develops her poetry at a workshop, and, finally, when Chris tells her it's over, she writes her best poem. Then Chris wants her back; Robin realizes that it was him she loved all along. This is a fairly typical triangle romance, although the author seems to subscribe to the ""girls like to be treated bad'' theory of dating. Robin seems unbelievably dense, and her poetic sensitivities never really surface. (13-up)