Fifteen Love » (Reprint)

As a teenager, Robert Corbet constantly fell in love with blond girls named Michelle. At college, he always fell for clever girls with long velvet dresses and short, dark hair. Then he met a girl in pink overalls who rode a motorcycle. After a long, agonizing courtship, they bought a station wagon, had three children, and lived happily ever after. Robert lives in Melbourne, Australia. He is also the author of Shelf Life for Walker & Company.

New York Public Library's Books for the Teen Age, 2004

"Funny, quirky, and satisfyingly romantic."— School Library Journal

"Where [Fifteen Love] really shines is in its intimate yet universal detailing of Will and Mia's angst-filled conversations, petty jealousies, bad viola jokes, self-doubts, and personal recriminations .... Very funny."— The Horn Book

Mia thinks boys are immature. They only talk about cars and sports. They only think about sex.

Will has no idea what girls talk about. He wishes he were a fly on the wall. He wishes he had a tape recorder and a hidden microphone ....

Fifteen Love is a funny up-and-down story about a boy and a girl, a viola and a tennis racquet; about family and friends, flirting and true love.

As a teenager, Robert Corbet constantly fell in love with blond girls named Michelle. At college, he always fell for clever girls with long velvet dresses and short, dark hair. Then he met a girl in pink overalls who rode a motorcycle. After a long, agonizing courtship, they bought a station wagon, had three children, and lived happily ever after. Robert lives in Melbourne, Australia. He is also the author of Shelf Life for Walker & Company.

Publishers Weekly

Alternating the points of view of two smitten 15-year-olds, Australian author Corbet (The Passenger Seat) humorously displays the painful side of falling in love for the first time. Will, a tennis player, and Mia, a violist, reveal to readers their attraction to each other from the outset. But every time their paths converge, disaster seems to follow. Initially, Will is struck dumb whenever he runs into Mia in the school corridors ("Thank you for calling Men Who Can't Speak. We have placed you in a very long line," Will thinks to himself). After Will eventually finds his tongue and asks Mia to a tennis tournament, miscommunications turn the first date into a comedy of errors. Ironically, Will starts dating Mia's (ex-) best friend, Vanessa, while Mia (having discovered that her father is having an affair) gives up on men altogether ("It's official.... All men are evil," she declares to her mother). In the end, it is Will's feisty paraplegic brother, Dave, and Mia's mischievous beagle, Harriet, who (accidentally) save the day, bringing the teens together for an all's-well-that-ends-well conclusion. Besides providing witty dialogue and hilarious misfortunes, the author adroitly invents characters complicated enough to be interesting and genuine enough to draw sympathy from readers. Anyone who has experienced the stumbling blocks along the path to love will appreciate the awkward first steps of Mia's and Will's romance. Ages 12-up. (Mar.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.