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The Trouble with Flirting

Claire LaZebnik (Goodreads Author)

3.72 · Rating details · 3,226 ratings · 391 reviews

Franny's supposed to be working this summer, not flirting. But you can't blame her when guys like Alex and Harry are around. . . .

Franny Pearson never dreamed she'd be attending the prestigious Mansfield Summer Theater Program. And she's not, exactly. She's working for her aunt, the resident costume designer. But sewing her fingers to the bone does give her an opportunity ...more

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Paperback, 336 pages

Published February 26th 2013 by HarperTeen

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Best Jane Austen Adaptations

177 books — 165 voters

The Trouble with Flirting by Claire LaZebnik

Mansfield Park Adaptations

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· 3,226 ratings · 391 reviews

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Mar 13, 2013 Anesha †Curious & Obsessive Bookworm† rated it it was amazing

Shelves: childhood-friends, opposite-attracts, favourite, reality, summer-romance

Blah...May contain spoiler and rambling(of course)

I really, really wish today was a weekend

I started reading this book late last night and didn't go to sleep until 3AM...knowing I had to wake up at SIX to get ready for work (since I take forever to get ready - i usually have to get an extra early start xD)

This book had me going:

And then...BAM it was over...and then when it ended - something in me broke..I became an emotional wreck dammit!!!

AND IT WAS NOT PRETTY!! It deprived me of even MORE ...more

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Dec 16, 2016 Lexy rated it it was amazing

This book was so good it made me cry.

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Sep 28, 2014 Marga rated it liked it

Shelves: young-adult, book-boyfriends, contemporary, the-feels-is-everywhere, light-and-cute

“Isabella: "Why are you being so mean to me?"
Harry: "Because i love you"
Isabella: "Does that ever work?"
Harry: "On my mother it does."
Isabella: "I'm not your mother."
Harry: "I know that already, because I'm enjoying your company.”

Well, that was fun.

Maybe you've had enough of books with complicated world building and stuffs. Or perhaps you're having a really stressful day in school or at work. Well, this is the book for you. I don't even know how many times this book made me laugh out loud or ...more

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Nov 28, 2016 Muse-ic ♬ rated it really liked it

Shelves: fluff, romance

3.5

Overall, that was pretty lame. But I still liked it.
Why, do you ask?
BECAUSE CHICK LIT! And I am unashamed to admit that I LOVE chick lit!
It's pure brain candy, which is exactly what I need right now, because after Empire of Storms and college, my brain really cannot handle much more hard coreness.

That being said, the love triangle was kind of annoying. I didn't really ship anyone until the end. That's how little I was attached to the love interests.
However, SARCASM GALORE! I absolutely love ...more

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Mar 16, 2013 Meredith (Austenesque Reviews) rated it really liked it

Shelves: jane-austen, mansfield-park

Relevant and Fresh Takes on Jane Austen!

To date, Claire LaZebnik has published four refreshing and clever Young Adult retellings of Jane Austen’s novels – Epic Fail (Pride and Prejudice), The Trouble With Flirting (Mansfield Park), The Last Best Kiss (Persuasion) and Wrong About the Guy (Emma) – and I sincerely hope she continues to write more! In this insightful and authentic retelling of Mansfield Park, Franny Pearson is a rising high school senior from a non-wealthy, divorced family looking f Relevant and Fresh Takes on Jane Austen!

To date, Claire LaZebnik has published four refreshing and clever Young Adult retellings of Jane Austen’s novels – Epic Fail (Pride and Prejudice), The Trouble With Flirting (Mansfield Park), The Last Best Kiss (Persuasion) and Wrong About the Guy (Emma) – and I sincerely hope she continues to write more! In this insightful and authentic retelling of Mansfield Park, Franny Pearson is a rising high school senior from a non-wealthy, divorced family looking for a summer job. Her mom arranges for her to assist her aunt with making and altering costumes for a summer theatre program at Mansfield College.

Upon arrival Franny recognizes some familiar thespians – Julia Braverman, a friend she lost touch with, and her brother Alex, who she had a monster-crush on several years ago. Franny hopes a little romance might finally happen between her and Alex this summer, but her hopes are dashed as he seems to be immediately attracted to the sophisticated and gorgeous Isabella Zevallos. Franny feelings of disappointment and dejection start to disappear when super-flirtatious and fun Harry Cartwright starts paying her some serious attention over the other girls, the question is are his intentions as serious…

Claire LaZebnik has a wonderful talent for adapting Jane Austen’s characters and themes into a story that is relevant, current, and accessible to Young Adult audiences today. It never feels forced or as if she is trying too hard. Her characters embody the right blend of maturity and youthfulness, sincerity and blitheness, seriousness and irresponsibility and I am overall impressed with the language and intimate understanding she revealed. Just like Amy Heckerling (Clueless) astutely understood high school students in 1995, Claire LaZebnik gets high school students of this generation.

One aspect of this story I greatly enjoyed was seeing the contemporary reincarnations of Jane Austen’s characters. I liked seeing a flirtatious Henry (Harry) with questionable sincerity, a “good-guy” Edmund (Alex) who is guilty of being indecisive and sending mixed signals, a Marie and Isabella (Maria and Mary) who are appropriately desperate for male attention, and a Julia (Julia) who is unsurprisingly insecure and selfish. Readers who haven’t read Mansfield Park may not pick up how wonderfully these modern updates emulate their Regency counterparts, but I did, and I greatly appreciate the author’s creativity. I especially loved that Harry’s character had an extra special twist to it! As with many people who exude a strong and loud persona, there is always more hidden behind their mask…

Those who cannot abide Fanny Price and find her priggish and dull will be delighted to find this representation of Fanny a little different. Franny is quirky, witty, unaffected and charmingly sarcastic. But, since she is at the theatre program as an employee and not a student, she still is an outsider looking in. While I have no issue with Jane Austen’s timid and virtuous heroine, I did find myself, for the most part, enjoying this alternate spunky version of Fanny. However, one aspect of her character that I wasn’t too fond of is her relationship with her aunt, (who is more of a complainer than a cruel shrew). Franny spoke negatively about her aunt several times and didn’t seem to appreciate anything her aunt did for her – such as her job, requests for time-off, free room and board. I know teenagers are often self-centered at this stage, but I found Franny lack of consideration and appreciation towards her aunt to be disappointing and uncalled for.

These modern-day retellings by Claire LaZebnik are very deserving of praise and attention in both the Austenesque and Young Adult communities! I love the creative and perceptive ways she updates Jane Austen’s novels and brings out a story that is captivating and real to young audiences! I cannot wait to get my hands on The Last Best Kiss and Wrong About the Guy! ...more

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May 13, 2016 Rahmi rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: high-school, young-adult, cute, book-boyfriend, contemporary, romance, fav-all-the-time, fav-bad-boy, love-triangle-or-something

5 fabulous stars
So far this is the best LaZebnik's book that I've read. It was cute, sweet, and funny.

I know I have this love-hate relationship with love triangle and the love triangle in this book (Alex - Franny - Harry) was one of the love triangle that I love. ...more

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Mar 30, 2017 Gillian rated it really liked it

Shelves: contemporary, bookish-boyfriends, cuter-than-puppies, feelsy-feels, favorites, premise-is-perfection, romance, romance-to-root-for, lolz, love-triangles-are-pointy

That just put me in the absolute BEST mood. Such fun dialogue and a super-de-duper-dy cute ship. This is more a twist on Mansfield Park than a retelling, but since MP is definitely least favorite Jane Austen novel, I'm not mad at it. There are a lot of significant changes to the character dynamics (and one ginormous change in the end result, which again, I AIN'T MAD AT (view spoiler) ...more

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Apr 29, 2013 Katie rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2020, books-read-in-2013, 2020-reread

So I was excited to read this book and then I found out it was a Mansfield Park retelling and I wasn't so sure, but then I asked Jess to spoil me a little and then I knew I definitely wanted to read it. (view spoiler)

Anyway, I really like Claire LaZebnik's writing. I've read this and Ep ...more

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Aug 23, 2014 Jessica rated it it was ok

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

Rating: 1.5 stars

It took me a while to write up this review, I don’t know, it’s just... this book made me pretty mad. So yeah, you may find me ranting a bit in this review.
So finding that this book was a Mansfield Park adaptation had originally gotten me really excited, since there are scarcely any around - and was in fact the first I’d come across, but it ripped out a lot of the main themes (and my soul), leaving behind a rather bland clichéd romance. I really did want to like this novel becau ...more

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Nov 01, 2012 Heather rated it really liked it

Shelves: arc-tour, february-2013

Guys, I LOVED this book! I am familiar with the author's previous YA work, Epic Fail, but haven't read it. And I have never read Mansfield Park, the Jane Austen novel on which The Trouble with Flirting is loosely based. But I loved the short description of this book. And I loved that it was a contemporary romance because I was badly in need of one. I had been reading a lot of paranormal and dystopian YA when this book arrived in the mail and it was such a welcome break for me. And The Trouble Wi Guys, I LOVED this book! I am familiar with the author's previous YA work, Epic Fail, but haven't read it. And I have never read Mansfield Park, the Jane Austen novel on which The Trouble with Flirting is loosely based. But I loved the short description of this book. And I loved that it was a contemporary romance because I was badly in need of one. I had been reading a lot of paranormal and dystopian YA when this book arrived in the mail and it was such a welcome break for me. And The Trouble With Flirting did not disappoint. It was clever, funny, and very romantic. I will most definitely be reading Epic Fail now (another Austen retelling) and any books Claire LeZebnik puts out in the future because if The Trouble With Flirting is any indication, I am going to enjoy them.

The best thing about The Trouble With Flirting is the main character, Franny. I adore Franny and her cynical, sarcastic attitude. Franny is a very no nonsense kind of girl. She comes from a close knit family comprised of her mom and older brother William. Since her parents divorce, Franny's family has fallen on tough economic times. The first few pages of the book cracked me up as Franny compares her families personal wealth with most of her classmates who travel to Europe during the summer and get brand new BMW's for their 16th birthdays.

William is away at college and Franny longs to go to college too. But she knows that an academic scholarship is her only way or she will be facing a mountain of student loan debt. The book begins the summer before her senior year and Franny is looking for a summer job to help her pad her college fund. When her mom arranges for her to go work with her aunt, who is the costume designer for a high school summer drama camp at Mansfield University in Oregon, Franny is less than thrilled. You see Franny used to love drama, she was in all her middle school productions. But in high school she was sat down by her parents and given the talk that drama wasn't a great career choice and perhaps her time would be better spent pursuing more academic extracurricular activities. Attending the camp would be one thing. But sewing costumes for the camp attendees is another. And honestly, Franny doesn't want to be cooped up in a sewing room for the next 6 weeks with a crotchety aunt watching her every move. But Franny is a reasonable and realistic girl so she acquiesces and agrees to to take the job. When she arrives she unexpectedly runs into Julia, an old middle school friend, who is attending the camp. And guess what? Her hot twin brother, the one that Franny had a secret crush on years earlier, is also there. Score!

What is so great about Franny is she is totally self deprecating and reads like your normal teenage girl. Especially when compared to all of the other kids she encounters at the camp. These aren't just your typical drama geeks. This is the cream of the country's high school crop, all the kids enrolled not only had to pay a pretty penny to attend, but had to audition to win a spot. These are kids that are serious about becoming actors, and boy, do they act like it. Over the top personalities, showboating and spotlight hogging is the norm. And in this sea of craziness is Franny, quietly observing from the sidelines. It is such a fun world LaZebnik has thrown us into and I loved witnessing it from Franny's sardonic perspective.

As you can surmise from the summary above, there are two love interests in The Trouble With Flirting: Franny's secret childhood crush, Alex; and the camp's most eligible catch, L.A. native Harry. Oh boy, are these two great characters. And two very DIFFERENT characters. Like Franny, in the beginning I was all Team Alex. Alex was kind, sweet, and such a nice guy. It was easy to see why Franny had such a serious crush on him. But by the middle of the book I was really beginning to see the merit of flirty, funny, engaging Harry. As I said, having not read Mansfield Park I truly had no idea what was going to happen in the story and which guy Franny was going to choose in the end. I'm not going to spoil but I love the way the romance between Franny and both of these guys played out. And I LOVE that Franny, who readily admits to not being as glamorous, as pretty, or as flirty as the other female characters in the story, is the one that theguys are chasing after. YAY! for nice girls NOT always finishing last:)

I also love the theater setting of the book. This is the second book I've read recently that featured a theater theme and as someone who loved drama (I took Drama I, II, AND III in high school,) I thoroughly enjoyed all the behind the scenes stuff that goes down in the book. I did some summer drama camps when I was younger and this book totally took me back and made me smile as I remembered my own experiences (which were not NEAR as cool as the ones in this book unfortunately:)

The writing was just awesome. LaZebnik has a knack for writing humorous, authentic dialogue. Her characters sounded like real teenagers, some are over the top ACTOR teenagers, but teenagers nonetheless. I was totally immersed in the story and unable to put it down, dying to see how it was all going to turn out in the end.

The Trouble with Flirting is a quick read, TOO QUICK, I wanted more Franny, Alex and Harry. It's a standalone, which is refreshing and awesome. But gosh, I wouldn't mind running into these characters again in the future. Maybe in college? How cool would that be? (Pretty please, Ms. LeZebnik??)

So if you are looking for a great contemporary romance; like reading retelling's of literary classics; enjoy books with funny and endearing characters; and love books where a likable protagonist wins in the end you should definitely check out The Trouble With Flirting when it releases next February.

And if you have read Mansfield Park and get a chance to read this one, I would love to hear your thoughts on the similarities and differences between the two. Is the Franny in this updated version more likable? Does it end the same way and what do you think of the ending? I read the crib notes for Mansfield Park after finishing The Trouble With Flirting so I have my own thoughts regarding those questions, but I would love to hear yours!

4.5/ 5 Stars
...more

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Aug 24, 2017 malayna rated it it was amazing

Shelves: to-read-again, 4-5-stars

MY OPINION: *****

This book was yet another one of those quick summer reads, despite the fact that it basically isn't summer anymore.

Today will be an uber short review because I have loads of homework after this :D

Anyways, this book is about a girl named Franny who goes to work with her aunt at a "theater camp" of sorts that sounds SO AMAZING that I am jealous. Anyways, she meets up with an old friend, as well as that friend's bro, who was her old middle school crush.

At the camp, she makes a lot ...more

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Feb 26, 2013 Katy rated it really liked it

I really liked "Epic Fail," so when my friend asked me if I wanted to read this with her, I was more than eager to give it a try. And I was far from disappointed. This was a really great read - cute and fun. Yes, it was predicable, but I really like the way LaZebnik always manages to make me smile. There were some really great lines, and even the cheesy ones made me chuckle with delight.

My only big issue was that Franny made such a big deal about her family being less fortunate at the beginning ...more

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Sep 13, 2019 Maria Isabel Samonte rated it liked it

I still like Epic Fail better. I just do not understand the actions and decision of the character in this book. This retelling is also a little off the mark for me. I also did not like Franny here. She complains a lot but does not do anything to resolve her problems. If only did the characters communicate better they would be able to avoid the conflicts.

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Jun 19, 2013 Celine rated it it was ok

Shelves: romance, young-adult, unfinished, contemporary

After reading Mansfield Park with some other bloggers, we thought it would be fun to read a modern YA retelling of Mansfield Park, The Trouble with Flirting.

Sadly, this show again why I don't read YA contemporary. I'm sure there are great contemporary books out there - but usually I can't stand the main character. If the biggest problem in your life is what shirt to wear to school, I just can't relate to you, even though at nineteen I'm still fairly close to the intended audience for these book ...more

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Sep 15, 2014 Ty rated it really liked it

Shelves: oh-yay, popsicle-read

OMG... I seriously considered DNF this for a moment there... IT IS SO FRUSTRATING!
I just want to state that I was fairly team Harry and did not care much about Alex from the begining, until Harry went off and probably got himself an STD from Marie (my best friend's name is Marie... sucks), not that Franny's attitude helped or anything, she's the QUEEN OF FRUSTRATION AND INDECISIVENESS! That girl... THAT GIRL...
description

Alex didn't even looked at Franny, unless Isabella was doing something else rather th ...more

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Dec 08, 2012 M. rated it really liked it

I remember reading Epic Fail when it first came out and I love Jane Austen retellings, so I was happy to give The Trouble With Flirting a try. It was a very cute, fun book that told a great story!

The Trouble With Flirting centered around Franny’s summer at theater camp. While there, she reunites with her childhood crush, Alex, and also starts flirting with another camper, Harry.

Franny was an awesome main character. I think all the great different characters definitely contributed to what made t ...more

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Mar 28, 2014 Tellulah Darling rated it really liked it

Gotta love Twitter. After sending out an admittedly self-professed whiny but whiny nonetheless tweet that I couldn't find something awesome to read after the Anne Bishop books, I got turned on to The Trouble With Flirting. A light, fluffy, funny adorable retelling of Mansfield Park. Was there any character growth? Not really. It was all about the romance and the love triangle but it was funny and sweet enough that it did exactly what I wanted from a story like this.

And Harry is adorable. Just sa ...more

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Jan 03, 2013 Jess rated it really liked it

Shelves: ya-contemporary, 2013-new, library-book, own-ebook, young-adult, 2013-all

Hee. Suck it Edmund Bertram, I mean Alex Braverman.

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Dec 25, 2012 Brittany S. rated it it was amazing

Shelves: ya, favorites, arc-physical-copy, won, contemp-realistic-ya, retellings

4.5 stars
Initial Impressions:Super super super cute. I actually almost didnt read this book because I had some kind of crazy notion that it would just be okay. Boy was I wrong! I loved the wit and the humor and swoooooning. I really loved it!

Review originally posted on The Book Addict's Guide: Why didn’t you guys tell me how cute this book was!? I seriously almost didn’t read it and/or put it off because I was so unsure about it. Firstly, it’s a loosely-based retelling of Mansfield Park by Jane 4.5 stars
Initial Impressions:Super super super cute. I actually almost didnt read this book because I had some kind of crazy notion that it would just be okay. Boy was I wrong! I loved the wit and the humor and swoooooning. I really loved it!

Review originally posted on The Book Addict's Guide: Why didn’t you guys tell me how cute this book was!? I seriously almost didn’t read it and/or put it off because I was so unsure about it. Firstly, it’s a loosely-based retelling of Mansfield Park by Jane Austen……. Which I know nothing about. Also, although I know OF Claire LeZebnik, I feel like I haven’t heard a lot about many of her books. I was totally in the dark about what I was jumping into and now I’m SO glad I did.

THE TROUBLE WITH FLIRTING, in a word, is adorable. Franny’s just your average teenager who happens to have kind of a knack for acting but hasn’t done much with it since 8th grade. She needs to get a job for the summer so the closest she gets to acting is working for her aunt as a seamstress for a summer acting program. To her surprise, Franny’s old 8th grade crush turns up and meanwhile, Harry “I’m-hot-in-an-obvious-way-but-it-totally-works” Cartwright is totally hitting on Franny as well. Sarcasm, wit, and swoony moments ensue thus solidifying our appropriate title, THE TROUBLE WITH FLIRTING.

Okay, now my feelings: I FELT FEELINGS. Guuuuys. I didn’t expect to feel so swoony about this book and like Franny, I didn’t expect to feel so swoony about Harry. I absolutely love relationships in books built off of sarcasm and jokes. I don’t know WHY but for some reason I think it’s totally adorable and let me tell you, Claire LaZebnik is the sarcasm master but still keeps everything light and funny (not that kind of sarcasm that seems arrogant or rude). I just had so much fun reading the banter back and forth, mostly between Franny and Harry!

I really enjoyed the setting of the book revolving around the fact that all of these kids are here for a sort of summer camp for actors. I liked the fact that they were all staying in the dorms (aside from Franny) so they were all in the same place at the same time without being at a high school. It’s a more relaxed feel since it’s summer, but these kids still have work to do. I really liked the acting aspect of it too – It reminded me a bit of my high school days (okay, I couldn’t act, but I WAS in the plays/musicals).
...more

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May 05, 2015 The Book Jar Blog rated it liked it

Shelves: young-adult

A modern retelling of Mansfield Park, I love Jane Austen retellings. Fanny is spending the summer at Mansfield Summer Theater Program, but she isn't attending it, she's working as a costume assistant for her aunt. She gets to spend time with her crush Alex Braverman, but he's focused on a different lady. Then there is flirtatious Henry Cartwright who's notorious at breaking hearts, but what is a little summer fun romance right?

I love retellings of Jane Austen stories, but this one was a little o ...more

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Feb 13, 2013 Sami rated it it was ok

Wow, disappointing. I really enjoyed Epic Fail and so was looking forward to this but...well I just didn't get some of the decisions she made with the plot. Granted Mansfield Park isn't the best of Jane Austen's works but what makes it great is the sweet relationship with that Fanny and Edmond have and how things turn out for them in the end. By changing that outcome I felt it changed the charm of the original story. And really I didn't find that Harry really had any redeeming qualities. I reall ...more

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Jul 19, 2013 Shahnaz rated it liked it

Just like any teen-lit, the story-line is really simple, a girl who likes a guy who is her friend's brother. What I like about this book is that you can't get the book off of you until the very end, because it's fun, thrilling, just like a teenager life. I should applaud LaZebnik for creating such real characters for the book, so we, the readers, could really relate to each characters. ...more

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Jul 27, 2013 Forever Young Adult added it

Shelves: contemporary, romance, reviewed-by-jenny-b

Graded By: Jenny
Cover Story: Big Face
BFF Charm: Platinum!
Swoonworthy Scale: 8
Talky Talk: Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice
Bonus Factors: Theatre Camp, Costuming, Retelling
Relationship Status: Sweethearts

Read the full book report here. ...more

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Mar 23, 2013 Shambhawi P. rated it really liked it

Shelves: heroes-to-die-for, i-heart-you

So good. And cute. And sweet and fun ;) I simply adored Harry from the moment he walked in! One of the best feel good books in YA I've read.

I didn't know it was based on Mansfield Park - I haven't read it either. But reading this made me want to change that and go for classics now. ...more

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Oct 27, 2015 Lea Wellington rated it really liked it

Wow I wasn't expecting that, this book is great, funny and easy to read, in the end you'll not stop smiling and it'll make you happy :) ...more

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Jul 28, 2017 Anna rated it it was amazing

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. First off: I friggin' love this book! I expected it to be another cliche YA novel with some romance and miscommunication blah blah blah - you get the picture. But it was certainly a pleasant surprise. Something that I loved about this novel is just how *genuine* it felt. The relationships, the situations, and even the characters were all so realistic in how they made decisions throughout the plot.

I found Franny to be a fascinating protagonist and was glad in that I could relate to her on a deep First off: I friggin' love this book! I expected it to be another cliche YA novel with some romance and miscommunication blah blah blah - you get the picture. But it was certainly a pleasant surprise. Something that I loved about this novel is just how *genuine* it felt. The relationships, the situations, and even the characters were all so realistic in how they made decisions throughout the plot.

I found Franny to be a fascinating protagonist and was glad in that I could relate to her on a deep level; I felt like we were so similar in our thoughts and feelings as I went through this journey with her. Certain parts were even relatable to my own life, and helped me to better understand just how complicated friend groups and relationships within them can become.

Most YA novels use petty problems to move the plot along and cause unnecessary conflict through severely unrealistic means, but this book didn't need any of that. The characters were so well developed and authentic that they controlled the story and made it really enjoyable for me to read.

I also loved the humor and the smudge of satire that was present in the novel, such as this poke at stereotypical, and supposedly, "strict" parental guardians:

"She *buys* it. That's the weird thing about Amelia: she's nervous and negative and theoretically suspicious... but she's also oddly gullible. She nods and reluctantly says that it sounds too important and special for me to miss, and thanks the two of them for including me (233)."

And this subtle joke about how everything in YA novels always seems to work out perfectly in the protagonist's favor:

"... they replaced her as the lead of *Twelfth Night*.
Guess who they got to replace her?
Here's a clue: it's someone who's spent her time at Mansfield quietly working harder than anyone else, someone who hasn't sought any kind of public attention for any of her efforts, but has just done what she's been asked to do, and done it well.
Did you guess?
Madeline Bigelow took over the role of Viola.
Yeah, I didn't really know who she was either (286)."

Overall, a wonderful, relaxing, and yet thought-provoking, read that I would definitely recommend to anyone who's had some difficulty in the boyfriend department (ugh, haven't we all). ...more

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May 27, 2017 Jack Reynolds rated it liked it

Shelves: interlibrary-loans

Next up on the Jane Austen contemporary retelling chopping block: The Trouble with Flirting! After a good time with Epic Fail, and with this coming in with a funny and awkward premise, I was intrigued to see what this book would have offer, being a loose retelling of Mansfield Park and taking place at a theater camp. Since my local library doesn't have any other LaZebnik books aside from EF, Things I Should Have Known, and formerly Wrong About The Guy, it's time for the Interlibrary Loan system ...more

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Dec 07, 2019 Michael Smith rated it liked it

I’ve given LaZebnik good reviews before, because her YA novels are fun to read, but also have some weight to them, themes that make you pause and think. Franny Pearson of Phoenix expects to be working at the usual boring sort of teenage job during the summer after her junior year in high school, just because things are tight at home with just her mother to support the family. But then her Aunt Amelia, who is in charge of costumes at the renowned Mansfield Summer Theater Program in northern Calif ...more

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Apr 16, 2017 Mint Tea rated it liked it

Shelves: 2017-reads, celestial-challenge

The story had been a really fun thing and so cute that I just wish to squeeze every character! At some point, it got me snorting and go all annoyed at the characters because sometimes, they're just stupid. Like me!

Really nice read, but it was okay. *whispers* and i couldn't really get my hands off it even though i'm passed bedtime ...more

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Jul 14, 2017 Dayla rated it it was amazing

Shelves: contemporary, young-adult, summer

I can't even explain what happened to me while reading this book. I just...I picked it up and I VERY RARELY (Damn you, laundry) put it down. This was dramatic (no pun intended), quirky, fun, and just pure addicting fluff of a summer read and I absolutely loved it all.

Happy reading! ...more

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What's the Name o...: SOLVED. YA, girl helps make costumes for school play, falls in love with main actor boy who needs lots of room in his pants for his junk. [s]	9	69	Dec 22, 2014 01:48PM

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About Claire LaZebnik

Claire LaZebnik

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Please check out THINGS I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN, now available in bookstores and online.

"LaZebnik hits it out of the park with her story about pretty, popular Chloe and her loving relationship with her older, autistic sister, Ivy." BOOKLIST (starred review)

"Writing with honesty and wit, LaZebnik offers a thought-provoking portrayal of how people can come together despite, or perhaps because of, their ...more

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36 of the Most Anticipated Mysteries and Thrillers of 2021

Twists, turns, red herrings, the usual suspects: These books have it all...and more. If you love mysteries and thrillers, get ready for dozens...

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“Alex touches her arm. "You look nice."
"Nice?" she repeats. "Try harder, Alex."
He flushes adorably. "Really nice," he says.
"Next time, try this," Harry says. He reaches for my hand. "Franny, I didn't know what beauty was until I saw you walking toward us a minute ago.
"I like this better," I say, pulling away. "At least he sounded like he meant it."
"I meant it," Harry says, almost irritably.” — 18 likes

“Isabella: "Why are you being so mean to me?"
Harry: "Because i love you"
Isabella: "Does that ever work?"
Harry: "On my mother it does."
Isabella: "I'm not your mother."
Harry: "I know that already, because I'm enjoying your company.” — 12 likes

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