Bookish Boyfriends

Merrilee is obsessed with two things: swoonworthy romance novels and swoonworthy boys (whom she has found remarkably difficult to locate). At her new school, aptly named Hero High, she suddenly finds herself surrounded by plenty of potential boyfriends who are “paranormal hero handsome,” according to Merrilee. Before she knows it, gorgeous Monroe, the big man on campus, is wooing her with roses and requests that they date. Schmidt unapologetically places romance, and more romance, at the heart of this YA novel for younger teens, as the plot spins around the ways that real-life boys either fulfill or fail to live up to Merrilee’s romantic notions drawn from literature, especially Romeo and Juliet. Schmidt has Merrilee evaluating everyone and everything in light of this play, and upends assumptions about Juliet through Merrilee’s character, while turning a would-be Romeo into a brooding stalker. Ultimately Schmidt pits Romeo against a Mr. Darcy type in this romantic comedy (complete with Bridget Jones-like mishaps), whose heroine must open herself to the idea that the boy she least expects may turn out to be her real romantic hero. Ages 12–up. [em]Agent: Barry Goldblatt, Barry Goldblatt Literary. (May) [/em]