Dumb Love

Author Bruce Coville once said that a good book needs a tear, a laugh-out-loud chuckle and a surprise. This book delivers all three on more than one occasion. Meet Carlotta, a girl of "blessed flesh" who incurs the wrath of horrible insults yet is strong enough to fling them right back. Carlotta lives on Whisper Mountain with her "father-in-heart," Franklin Thomas, a man so candid and heartfelt that you hardly notice his missing teeth and chain smoking. Carlotta's mother is traveling throughout the course of the novel in an effort to sell her own hand-crocheted Easter bunnies. Carlotta is in the throes of writing a romance novel when her strangely likable nemesis, Andrea, who is also writing a romance novel, steals Carlotta's heroine's main man. In real life, Carlotta is in love with Pete. Her romance plan to capture Pete's heart involves a complicated date with the inclusion of a group of people of whom Carlotta apparently loathes. Kathleen Jeffrie Johnson creates a flawed cast of characters who are all seemingly struggling with love and friendship but doing so incognito, behind caustic attitude and pomp. What's so lovely about this book is that even the characters we're not really suppose to like are likable, lovable, even. I laughed throughout the book and was touched in many parts by Carlotta's strength, loyalty and insight. An incredible book offering teens an unadulterated look at love and hatred and the wry possibility that those two lines can actually intersect. The language is raw and real. "Laugh-out-loud" funny but so thoughtfully written that there's no doubt you will find your sympathies and joy producing a tear. A must read. This is the first book I've read of Jeffrie Johnson's but one that has spurned me to fill my shopping cart with her other titles.