It is nice in August when the day dawns with tons of clouds and a few sprinkles. That means it will be a while before the temps get into the 90s. Of course, there is some steam created once the wet pavement begins to dry in the heat of the day, but that is still preferable to the heat itself. Had a lazy start to the day and finished reading the new Ellen Wittlinger, LOVE AND LIES (Simon and Schuster, 2008). It is the companion to her Printz Honor novel HARD LOVE. It has been some time since I had seen Marisol and Gio and Birdie and this was like running into some old friends, ones you had not seen in a couple of years. Lots of catching up to do, some laughs, some rueful memories.
Marisol has delayed going to college for a year to work on a novel. She enrolls in a Saturday class where she discovers that Gio is another student. It is the instructor, Olivia, though that is the center of Marisol's interest in the class. When Olivia shows interest in Marisol beyond her writing, well, Marisol falls hard. Love never seems to go smoothly, and this is no exception. There are some inconsistencies in the Olivia Marisol has come to love and the Olivia who rears her rather ugly head from time to time.
I am always a bit afraid of companion books (i.e., sequels) as they can disappoint. That is most certainly not the case here. Marisol is a singular character, one that I have come to know in the pages of Wittlinger's books. And I still want to know more.