Ben, total verknallt

Making Out #4

by Katherine Applegate

The fourth book in this hot series about falling in and out of love finds Ben in love with two Claire, his long-time girlfriend, and her sister Nina, with whom he shared a passionate kiss. Because the sultry, sly and sexy Claire and his honest, down-to-earth great friend Nina.

Genres: Young Adult, Romance, Fiction, Childrens, Teen, German Literature, Contemporary Romance

179 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

#1 New York Times bestselling author Katherine Applegate has written many books for young readers, including THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN, winner of the 2013 Newbery Medal.

Katherine’s picture books include THE BUFFALO STORM, illustrated by Jan Ormerod (Clarion Books); THE REMARKABLE TRUE STORY OF IVAN, THE SHOPPING MALL GORILLA, illustrated by G. Brian Karas (Clarion Books); SOMETIMES YOU FLY, illustrated by Jennifer Black Reinhardt (Clarion Books); and ODDER: AN OTTER’S STORY, illustrated by Charles Santoso (Feiwel & Friends).

She’s written or co-written three early chapter series for young readers: ROSCOE RILEY RULES, a seven-book series illustrated by Brian Biggs (HarperCollins); DOGGO AND PUPPER, a three-book series illustrated by Charlie Alder (Feiwel & Friends). With Gennifer Choldenko, she co-authored DOGTOWN and MOUSE AND HIS DOG, illustrated by Wallace West (Feiwel & Friends).

Books for middle-grade readers include HOME OF THE BRAVE (Feiwel & Friends); THE ONE AND ONLY series, illustrated by Patricia Castelao, including THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN, THE ONE AND ONLY BOB, THE ONE AND ONLY RUBY, and THE ONE AND ONLY FAMILY (HarperCollins); the ENDLING trilogy (HarperCollins); CRENSHAW (Feiwel & Friends); WISHTREE (Feiwel & Friends); WILLODEEN (Feiwel & Friends); ODDER (Feiwel & Friends); and the forthcoming POCKET BEAR (Feiwel & Friends).

With her husband, Michael Grant, Katherine co-wrote ANIMORPHS, a long-running series that has sold over 35 million books worldwide. They also wrote two other series, REMNANTS and EVERWORLD, and a young adult novel, EVE AND ADAM (Feiwel & Friends.)

Katherine’s work has been translated into dozens of languages, and her books have won accolades including the Christopher Medal, the Golden Kite Award, the Bank Street Josette Frank Award, the California Book Award Gold Medal, the Crystal Kite Award, the Green Earth Book Honor Award, the Charlotte Zolotow Honor Award, and the E.B. White Read Aloud Award. Many of her works have appeared on state master lists, Best of the Year lists, and Publishers Weekly, USA Today, and New York Times bestseller lists.

Katherine lives in Nevada with her husband and assorted pets. She is represented by Elena Giovinazzo at Heirloom Literary and Mary Pender at WME.

Reviews

[Katie (Kitkatscanread) · Rating 5 out of 5]

So this was a re-read for me.
I'll be honest, I don't remember what happened in this one.
When I got to the end a little came back to me.
Another one enjoyed.
Can't wait to read the next!

[Caitlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

BOOK #4 COMPLETE!


Like List:
1. Lucas *rides off into the sunset with him* ♥♥♥
2. Nina
3. Aisha
4. Benjamin
5. Claire
6. Zoey
7. Louise Kronenberger
8. Jake
[9-99].
100. Christopher
1,000,000. Fucking Lars Eirlich.

So I loved like 98% of this book. So, so much. I'm trying to figure out what order I want to discuss them in.

Well, let's just jump in with Jake. He's at the bottom of my list this week. It's not that I don't like Jake, and it's not that I don't sympathize with Jake, but I'm having problems with his decision-making. Jake is a train-wreck right now. He's either rock-bottom or close. He needs help. Nina and Claire are seeing therapists - Jake needs to as well. Badly. I have a really bad feeling he's not at rock bottom yet. And I hope he doesn't end up doing something really, really stupid.

Not that doing cocaine isn't in fact... really, really stupid. Oh, Jake, you poor misguided hurting sweetheart. It seems like right now the only thing Jake has going for him is football, and in this book he made it his own personal mission to try to fuck that up for himself as much as possible. He definitely for sure has a drinking problem. 100%. There's no question it's a problem if you're doing it by yourself, basically every night, and it's negatively affecting the rest of your life. In this book Jake gets stupid drunk the night before, and shows up with a huge hangover for the last practice of the big homecoming game and fucks up the practice. Everyone notices how shitty he is. One of his football buddies Lars come us up to him after practice, and Lars tells it like it is and I'm like, yass Lars. Talk some sense into him.

"You're hungover, man. That's the problem."
"You know something, Lars, I don't remember when it was you became my mother."
Lars laughed. "I don't give a rat's ass what you do, man. I'm just thinking about the game. We can't win without you. [...And] maybe tonight would not be a good night for boozing." (p. 130)

Not that Lars is especially concerned about Jake's own well-being, but he's got the right idea. Boozing is not helping Jake (and the team) right now.

But then. But then Lars becomes my new most hated character because he decides that the solution to Jake being an alcoholic is to give him cocaine. And Jake says he doesn't need it, but keeps it anyway (WHY JAKE WHY).

At the football game, Jake and the team fuck up the first half but I'm pretty sure Jake isn't drunk/hungover for it. But maybe he was? I can't remember. I don't think so though. Anyway, so for the second half he decides "hey, why not take some coke?" I WILL GIVE YOU 1 MILLION REASONS WHY NOT JAKE MCROYAN. So he gets high as fuck and then does the football game, and I guess in some ways it does improve his performance, but was it really fucking worth it? No, because the other team noticed how unnaturally better he was and demanded he do a drug test. His coach gives him the option of taking it or refusing and being suspended for a week. Honestly, he shouldn't have been given the choice. But I love Jake so I'm glad he at least has this chance. Oh, and then Jake continues to make bad life choices by instead of going home, he goes to a party and gets hammered as fuck. And then probably sleeps with Louise Kronenberger who he thinks is Claire. Sigh. Oh and then somehow he makes it home on the ferry and the rest of the gang find him passed out on the dock.

So that's Jake's life right now.

Oh also at the end Claire basically broke up with him even though they weren't really together at all :(

+

The second big event was Christopher and Aisha. Last book Christopher was basically dead to me, but in typical Katherine Applegate fashion she managed to allow him to start worming his way out of the trenches. It helps getting the viewpoint of the character. I don't forgive Christopher for what he did, but I... like. I don't know. I don't think he's a terrible person. He's not a PERFECT person, but he's not a monster. I think he does actually care for Aisha. I think he definitely should've talked about it with her though. He doesn't get to use the excuse "we never said we'd be exclusive" because for most people, exclusivity is presumed when you start dating someone. That's the norm. It's when it's not exclusive that you need to clarify. And I don't fault Christopher for maybe not wanting to be monogamous (especially if there's no sex involved), but I definitely fault him for not telling Aisha. Especially when he hid it; if you're hiding it and lying about it, you clearly gotta know it's wrong.

Anyway, so his viewpoint chapters had me warm a bit to him. And then something awful happened - Christopher and Zoey were on the mainland talking in an alley about Aisha (whom I think Christopher actually really cares for and will hopefully not fuck up again if she does give him a chance) and he got horrendously beaten up in a racially motivated attack. It was awful :( But it was so powerfully written. Especially with Zoey calling Aisha and Aisha's reaction. I loved the section when Aisha was comparing Zoey and her. How they're similar but they're not.

"We are mostly the same," Zoey said earnestly. "You and I are more alike than I'm like Claire, for example. We're more alike than you and Nina."
"Only we're not. No one will ever call you a nigger, Zoey, or tell you to get out of town and go back to the ghetto where you belong. And no one is ever going to refuse you a chance or a job or whatever because you're the wrong shade. Cops aren't going to pull you over because you look suspicious driving a nice car, or ... or treat you like you must be a shoplifter every time you walk through a department store. That's a big difference between you and me, Zo. It's not your fault, I know you're not racist, but just the same it's hard for me to not resent it sometimes when it's like the whole damned world is ready to open up to the lovely lily-white Ms. Zoey Passmore but just waiting for the right time to step on the lovely, ebony Ms. Aisha Gray." (p. 152)

So, so well written. I loved the dialogue here. This series passes the Bechdel test in spades.

This plot-line is also connected to poor Lucas. I definitely sympathize him but I feel like he should say something. Some guys he knows from jail are behind the attacks and he is worried that if he says something he will be retaliated against, or worse, Zoey will. It's a real worry, but I would hope that maybe he could talk about that. I wish he had better parental figures to ask advice. But maybe he could tell Zoey and talk to her parents, or even Aisha's parents.

+

Who else... well Zoey and Lucas' big plot point was basically just the impending homecoming dance. There was a great scene with Zoey and Lucas when Lucas sleeps over and wants to sleep together and Zoey is like no. I like this plot line because it's so realistic. I understand the situation from BOTH of them. I really respect how patient Lucas is being (even if he's slowly losing his mind). Obviously the author is probably not going to go into this in explicit detail, but I feel like maybe they could start slower with all the other stuff and progress from there? Maybe they already are :P

Their storyline is definitely connected to Louise Kronenberger, who is the main reason I'm giving this book 4 stars and not 5 stars. Big issues with her, unfortunately. The problem is that most of the Islander girls with the possible exception of Claire are pretty timid/not ready when it comes to sex. And that in itself is no problem at all - it's natural. The boys (Lucas and Christopher and Jake to a lesser extent) are all shown to be the opposite of that :P Horny 24/7 and ready to go. It actually might have been nice to go a step further - to have at least one of them be a little less sexually experienced.

My problem with Louise Kronenberger is that so far there hasn't been any opportunities to see things from her perspective, which means we're getting a one-dimensional view of this girl as "slut." What's the difference between Louise and Christopher and Lucas? Nothing. They all clearly are sexually active and interested. But Louise is the one who is shamed for it. And while I can kind of allow this from maybe the perspective of the female characters written, it's hard to know when the author's voice ends and the character's begin in this matter.

All we see of Louise Kronenberger is all the girls hating on her, and her being flirty with Lucas. She's presented as a clear enemy. And the fact that she's sexually promiscuous is presented as a bad thing. And I'm not okay with that. And it really disappoints me in a book that does everything else so right. I don't feel like this is the last we'll see of this character, so I'm holding out hope that maybe it'll get better.

+

THIS REVIEW IS REALLY LONG UGH. Okay next up we have Nina and Benjamin. I really love this story line. I love Nina so much. She was my favourite in this book. I love seeing how she reacts to things. I also love seeing Benjamin's perspective because I love him too. I love the descriptions of him struggling to figure out how he sees Nina. I'm rooting for Nina, but I'm rooting for Benjamin too. I was proud and happy of him when he told Nina the truth - that he still loves Claire. But then the end they finally kissed :) It's such a weird feeling I have with them because I want them to work out because I want Nina to be happy (and Benjamin) but I'll be equally okay if they don't because I think it doesn't have to work out and it would be nice to explore that. Maybe Benjamin just isn't that into her that way? And that's okay. And I hope whatever happens they stay friends. It just sucks because so far we don't know really know any other options in the dating pool :p But I think it'd be good for Nina to at least get experience. Maybe she'll even find that she doesn't like Benjamin "like that" as much as she thought she would?

+

Finally really quickly, Claire wasn't in this book too much, but I was really proud of everything she did in terms of Jake. I made the mistake (even though I knew I shouldn't) to read the blurb on the front that was like "WILL CLAIRE TRY TO STEAL HER BOYFRIEND BACK FROM HER OWN SISTER?" and I was like GASP DAMNIT CLAIRE. But she didn't at all! So stfu, blurb. Obviously I understand feeling like... I don't know. Weird? About someone else dating your ex. Especially if it's your sister. But she handled it well. And I love how much she tries to support Jake. And I mostly just loved her speech at the end when she walked away from Jake. Even though the last thing Jake needs is more people walking away from him. But I understand why she did. I hope everyone gets together and holds an intervention for Jake and gets him some help.

+

Now if only #5 would get here in the mail!!! :(

[Nicky (burialshroud) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this was the first Making Out book I read. My copy came free with glossy teen-mag It's Bliss and it is well-thumbed, verging on disintegrating. I have so many fond memories of this book that I was disappointed to find, on re-read, that this is the biggest bummer in the series so far.

Biggest and toppermost bummer is Christopher being attacked by skinheads. No, he is not my favourite character and I do think he deserves many mild annoyances and inconveniences including being dumped by Aisha which happens at the beginning of the book, but not to be beaten for crap's sake. Zoey and Aisha have a screaming fight in a coffee shop following the incident which was quite distressing, and soon after Christopher asks Lucas to help him get a gun to go after the guys who beat him up. So depressing, and sad!

Coming in a close second on the bummer chart is Jake's downward spiral. He gets caught snorting coke and is temporarily suspended from the football team. To cheer himself up he goes to a party where he has sex with Louise Kronenberger...or something. It's sort of a weird scene. Jake is extremely under the influence and does not seem to know what he's doing. And it fades out before anything really happens. Does it fade out because it's a book for young people or does it fade out because Jake's not conscious? The next we hear of Jake he's passed out on the ferry dock in the early hours of the morning. Poor Jake!

There were a couple of embarrassing moments in this book that I did not enjoy. At one point Claire asks Jake to love her and forgive her. He replies "One out of two ain't bad" Gaaaah. What a line. The dialogue in this series has been amazing so far but this line gave me douche chills. There's another moment where the homecoming king and queen are being announced during a football game. The crowd already knows who the king and queen are and shout the answer out in unison. Bleurgh. More chills.

Favourite Moments:
-Benjamin and Nina go to the homecoming dance together and actually have a good time. Then they kiss!

Notes:
-Holly=in the wind

[Sarah Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Firstly, Ben's in love? Bit of an odd title as he spends the whole book without a girlfriend, and isn't really sure about Claire or Nina. Anyway,

* Jake won't forgive Claire, even when she helps him on a test, and then decides the best way to win a football match is to take cocaine. This results in the other team's coach asking for a drugs test, and Jake gets suspended for a week for refusing. Strange that they still let him go to the homecoming dance really 🤔
* Aisha dumps Christopher who says he's done nothing wrong because he never said they were exclusive 🙄 Christopher then gets beaten up by some racist boys who see him talking to Zoey. Aisha then seems to take Christopher back and even does some of his jobs for him, although I'm really not sure that Christopher had changed his mind about sleeping with other girls.
* Lucas continues to pressure Zoey to have sex with him, but she stays firm. She's annoyed by the attention he receives from the homecoming queen though. Lucas also finds out that Jake slept with the homecoming queen, although he was so drunk that I don't think he remembers it.
* Nina is worried about her date with Ben because of being molested by her uncle before, but things seem to go pretty well in the end.
* Claire makes the decision that Jake will never forgive her, so gives up on him.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my first book in the making out series as I got it free in a magazine, so this is the book that started off my collection however on the re read as an adult kinda not keen on it. There’s some really problematic things around consent and also some other bits that I’m not so sure are handled quite right. Still gonna keep going though, Nina and Benjamin finally got together so heart eyes

[Katelynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

So sweet I could barf.

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Again this one dealt with a pretty dark aspect to it. I don't like how it dealt with a couple of aspects of the story. However, I do love the development of Nina and Ben's relationship.

[Taylor Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

So good! Diving right in to the next one

[Abbie Malone · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great fun easy read book felt like being in high school again full of girly gossip

[Dori · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute.

[Reading with Cats · Rating 1 out of 5]

So, yeah…entitled little pricks who think their girlfriends owe them sex just hits *a lot* different now. Too much of this shit in the news, don’t need it in my reading life, thankyouverymuch.

[Mehsi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am actually reading the 2 in one combined edition that came out recently. However, due to the stuff that is told in the first book of this 2 in 1 bundle, I have decided to not read that part, and since I am only reading one book then, I decided this was more fair.
Because, yeah, I am not interested and I don't feel comfortable reading the topic mentioned in the first book (Nina Won't Tell).

Wow, everything that can go wrong, will go wrong on this little island no? In the first 2 books we had cheating, deadly accidents, jail-time and drinking and confessions, secrets. In the third book (that I skipped) we have sexual abuse, confessions, from what I could read slut-shaming. In the fourth book we have cheating, white power and beating up black guys, secrets, drinking and drugs. Seriously, it is like the island attracts all the bad stuff. And also it is (while the topics are serious) a bit hilarious that everything that can happen happens. It feels a bit too much like those lame soap operas you have on tv.

The story in this one was pretty decent, I quite liked it. I liked how Benjamin and Nina got together and how they slowly got closer and closer. Especially Benjamin, as he was still hesitant about the whole thing, but you can see him change. It was really great fun, and while I still don't particularly like Benjamin, he is a good character and he is pretty awesome.

Nina, I am still not sure what to think of the girl, I know now what happened to her and it might explain her craziness and bitchiness, but I am still not entirely liking her. She is just a bit too much over the top for me.

Zoey, I like that girl, I still do. She cares about people, and while Lucas gets pissed off, I was happy that she is still caring for Jake. That she still helps him out when he needs someone to care for him.
I also like that she is standing firm on the "No, I don't want sex now"-thing. I hope she will keep holding on to that. I really dislike it when girls fall and lose their resolution about such things.

Claire, meh, she does get better, but I still think she is a bit too cool and a bit too much of an ice queen. Also, like said in the previous review, I got tired of her weather stuff.

Christopher, by Gods, what a crap character that is. The things he did in this book were terrible. But, I also feel sorry for him and what happened to him. No one deserves that.

Aisha, another character I am pretty unsure about. At times she is nice, but at other times she is just too much and she is quite confusing with how she feels about stuff. One time she likes Christopher, the other time she wants to rip off his balls.

Jake, urgh, what a fall he made. I can see this all go very very wrong. I am also kind of curious what will happen when the truth will come out of what happened between him and a certain girl. I do hope he will get or find help. Drugs and drinking is not a good combination.

Lucas, one of my favourite characters from the last book, but now I didn't like him that much. He just kept pushing to have sex with Zoey, not even agreeing or wanting to understand her. It was just terrible and it really destroyed his character for me. I also didn't like that he was keeping secrets from everyone. I can understand why, the repercussions would be big, but still I wish he wouldn't. This is going to end up badly.

I will be sure to continue the books, just got to wait a few months for the next pair of 2 in 1 bundles to come out. I didn't even mind the switching of POVs in this one, I just easily slipped in the story/island world and I knew who everyone was.

I would recommend this book, even if at times it was a bit over the top and at other times it was a bit boring, it was still a pretty good book. I am not sure if I would recommend Nina Won't Tell, only if you are comfortable with the topic. If you are like me, and don't feel comfortable about the topic of sexual abuse/child abuse, then I would recommend you skip that one. Just read a review about the book and continue with this one. I didn't have any problems getting into the story after I did that.

Review first posted at http://twirlingbookprincess.com/

[Elaine Mullane || Elaine and the Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

Feeling nostalgic for the books of my youth, I revisited Katherine Applegate and her Islanders omnibus editions (first released as the Making Out series way back in 1993. Yes, I am that old...).

While I found them to be overly-dramatic and a little bit cheesy on second reading, I think they would be loved by teenagers today. YA has taken a much-welcome step in the sphere of fantasy, science fiction and Dystopia, largely, in recent years so for teenagers looking for the traditional romance novels filled with teen-angst and buried secrets, these are a good series to turn to. A little bit Dawson's Creek in it's setting and it's drama, The Islanders is the perfect teen soap opera.

[C. B. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I remember being obsessed with this series when I was 14! I made my mom buy me all 29 books (in Germany a 29th book was published, there is no English translation) after borrowing the first one from my then-best friend.
Looking back, the plots got wilder and wilder with time: A lost half-sister, Claire's stalker, Ben miraculously being able to see again etc. I don't think I would enjoy it as much now as I did ten years ago, but it will only have a special place in my heart.

[Taylor]

Shows you about teenage relationships

[Maggie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVE Ben and I like Nina, so I must love this book ! :)

[Jenaya · Rating 4 out of 5]

good

[Lese.tek · Rating 5 out of 5]

alle mehrmals gelesen.. SUUPERRR

[Isa · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.0

[Hussein · Rating 3 out of 5]

i think this will wide up my mind for more love stories ................. but real ones are more interest able

my favorite character was zoey

[Nadine · Rating 4 out of 5]

diese Buchreihe hat mich während meiner Teeniezeit begleitet. ich habe sie so geliebt...