An April Love Story (Wildfire)

I'm jealous of all the other reviews who said this was a book from their youth, if only I could have been alive in the 80s and was able to read this when it first came out, it's a lovely book, I had a smile on my face throughout, and I loved the country setting as well as the characters, Marnie and Luke had some real nice character development especially for a short book, also could feel their chemistry through the writing, I loved seeing Marnie fall in love with him and not knowing how to get him to notice and him realizing he feels the same, it was lovely the wholesome family scenes made me want to cry, I'm a sucker for warm families as I forever crave for one. I will definitely be reading this book regularly, so sweet and how romance should be. Loved the ending too, the only problem is a want more! also let's talk about how sweet the cover is? it's exactly how the characters are described and it looks so genuine, props to the models and photographer you'd think they were actually in love haha. I can't wait to read this again, one of my favourites, would recommend to anyone who likes romance especially 80s romance.

I, too, read this in the 1980s and still love it...I re-read it periodically and it still makes me laugh and grin. I marvel at how a simple Wildfire romance paperback has stuck with me all these years, timeless and well-written and so funny! Marnie's teen sensibility is intelligent and rings true as it evolves from self-absorption to responsible, even inspirational, maturity. One scene of enviable closeness between mother and daughter is particularly sweet, and all that she learns about self-sustaining farming is told with witty candor. A treasure!

I read "An April Love Story" when I was about sixteen (1986), and I loved it. It is a teenage romance novel, but it's clean and a sweet story. Marine is a high school girl who lives with her parents in (if I remember correctly) New York City. She loves her life and her friends. Her parents' best friends have a son, Lucas, who goes to school with Marine, but she keeps her distance. He's kind of quiet and serious and pimply. Anyway, one day she comes home to discover that her parents and her parents' friends (Lucas's parents) have decided that all of them are going to move to a farm in North Carolina and "live off the land" together. They use no electricity, no indoor plumbing, no store bought convenience foods. They wear no make-up and sew all their own clothes. The parents love their new life while the two kids silently hate it but endure it since their parents are so giddy. Eventually, Marine starts to see Lucas through different eyes. He becomes tan and muscular from all the outdoor labor, and his skin clears up. Marine has a girlfriend who thinks he's good-looking. Marine starts acting differently around him, and soon they fall in love. Anyway, it's a wholesome, sweet story clean enough for your teenage daughter to read.

I first read this book over 20 years ago, and loved it. I read it again about 15 years ago and still loved it. Now at age 57 I am reading it again, and still love it, so if you have ever thought about living the Mother Earth News way read this

I was feeling nostalgic, thinking of my favorite teenage paperback, which i lost and had wished i had been able to find, and read again (even tho i have read it probably 30 times), when i got the bright idead to search here! I will be buying it, and just to let anyone who stumbles across the page know, its a GREAT book for a young teenage girl!

Marine MacDonald is in love with Joel, the all-American jock at her school and everything seems perfect in life when-BHAM! Her parents break the news to her that they're moving. And it isn't just Marine's family that is moving with her-her parents' friends and their annoying son Lucas, whom Marine despises, are moving with the MacDonalds. Could life get any worse? Apprently so, because the farm in North Carolina is to be shared by both familes, and in an attempt to simplify life and get back to nature, (in a sort of Amish-Commune way) there will be no telephones, electricty or grocery shopping. No more make up, fast food, or after school activities either. In fact school takes a back seat to helping her parents on the farm since milking goats, picking apples and making sweaters is the only way the families want to earn money.Suddenly, things start to change for Marine; Lucas doesn't look so annoying anymore and life isn't as dismal as it once seemed. Marine starts to fall in love with him. The only problem? Lucas doesn't realize she even likes him!A romance through and through, this is one of Cooney's first books for teenagers and a wonderful read on a rainy day.