Crush

Book 89 of my 2014 Reading Challenge

Crush: 26 Real-life Tales of First Love edited by Andrea N. Richesin

Summary (via Goodreads)

Twenty-six bestselling authors return to the teenage bedrooms, school hallways and college dorms of their youth to share passionate essays of love lost and found and lessons learned along the way. Whether heartbreaking or hilarious, their soul-baring honesty reminds us to keep reaching for true love wherever we can find it and for as long as it takes. Their intimate reflections will fascinate and move any reader who remembers her first love.

My Opinion

Aaahhhh, young love. This quick read was a great opportunity to reminisce on the successes and failures of that pivotal first crush.

Out of the 26 stories there were only 2 I didn't like, making it a hit for me.

My favorite story was Olfactory by Catherine Newman. My close second, and winner of 'the most interesting title', was Uncle Greg, a Giant Chicken, and the Murderous Pottery Wheel by Heather Swain.

A Few Quotes from the Book

"I'm older now, so a kiss is great and fireworks sometimes go off and a kiss can take you all kinds of places you don't expect, but there's nothing like those first kisses, the ones where you feel you're going to fall into the other person, when you get dizzy and forget who you are." ~ from When It Was All Brand-New by Rebecca Walker

"I want to remember him as he was, even if that memory's vague, and perhaps wrong. Who he was to me matters so much more than who he actually was." ~ from Creative Writing by David Levithan