The Principles of Love

Author: Emily Franklin
Published: July 5, 2005 (NAL)
Category: Teen fiction

Our main character suffers a tragic name: Love Bukowski.

Aside from the name problems, Love has other issues in her life. She has never known her mom. She has to move and begin her sophomore year at a swanky New England boarding school, and her dad is its new principal.

During her first week, Love meets her dream guy, a fake friend (who'll later backstab her in the sequel Piece, Love, and Happiness), her hard-to-hate competition for dream guy, and the real dream guy who actually knows Love. During her first year, Love will experience love, be betrayed, get suspended, be pseudo-famous, and puke all over her object of affection. I certainly didn't have a sophomore year like that.

Despite its formulaic storyline, Principles was a pretty good read. I didn't read through it as fast as I read the Sweep series. I felt it wasn't as fluffy because it was so serious about all those important problems you deal with as a teenager. It's very much of a coming of age/staying true to yourself book. I think the book would've been better if Franklin didn't try so hard to pack every element of the stereotypical teen angst movie into the book. I have no idea how she manages to write at least three more titles for the series when she's exhausting every plot device possible in Principles. I thought I was going to read the sequel, but upon reading the back cover, I decided I'd be more satisfied without it.