Review: Still waiting
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 07 19, 2013
High school senior Isabelle ("Iz") has the upper hand in her first semester talking with rock star Jake Johnson.  Once things catch fire second semester between the two friends, she gives the upper hand on a silver platter to Jake.  Just as she starts handing her car's keys to Jake so he can drive them places, she lets him make most of the big decisions about their relationship.  I'm not super comfortable with their dynamic, especially with Jake's excessive loyalty to his former girlfriend, a French woman portrayed as without options in a crisis that Jake flies a thousand miles to help her resolve (then brings her back to Chicago in winter -- she goes from bad to worse).  Of course Monique LeVois has options --  a successful movie star has an agent, lawyers.  They may be options who are on her payroll, but so what? Her distress call to Jake (her only friend in a foreign land) smells off, and his eagerness to play the hero does, too.  Even if his aid (and her cry for help) are as pure as driven snow, the optics are bad in the press and they hurt poor Isabelle.First semester banter and confidences in phone calls evolve second semester to angsty, lovelorn and sometimes desperate conversations.  No longer confident or self-assured, Isabelle in her first relationship frequently sounds whiney, stressed, tearful, overtired and immature.  What has happened to our character?  This is the downside of long-distance love with a high-profile boyfriend.  And: if you think two adults in a romance can finally take things to the next level together, as Jake's early interest in her age might have indicated, check out the title of my review.  I agree that Jake's reluctance is the prudent decision, but it sure feels prudish and unrealistic, and moral-pushing by our author.