Review: Reveling in romance?  This one's for you, then!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 10 28, 2011
OMG this is the awesomesauce!  I'll write a real review a bit later, but wanted to enthuse, gush, emote and rave about this warm, intense, twisty, clever, winsome and lovely book while I'm still euphoric.  Molly, you've written some good books before, but this one is a doozy!So that was my initial reaction, written in the first blush of excitement after finishing this last night.  I've spent lots of time chatting and thinking about it since then, and want to write a more elaborate and complete review.Brief summary:  Daniel Revelstoke and his parents are moving from England to Oregon. Dan will be starting nearby as a college freshman, and he soon meets another entering student there, the lovely Julie, girlfriend of an employee at the resort his parents manage.  They become friends as they experience the challenges and fun of freshman year together.  Meanwhile, Dan's parents, particularly his Mom, are acting kind of weird, and it's clear that something troubling is happening with her.  As the year goes on, Dan, heretofore a self proclaimed love 'em and leave 'em type, finds himself drawn to Julie in ways that aren't consistent with her attached status, and his formerly cavalier relationship style.  When they both land parts in a college production of Cyrano de Bergerac, Dan comes to realize that Julie is "the one," but her feelings remain somewhat opaque to him.  When Dan's Mom finally opens up about the unforeseen consequences of an old family secret  everything goes up for grabs, in the story, and in Dan's life.  Dan's love for Julie is intense and all-consuming, which is a good thing, because it's going to tested by circumstances neither could have imagined.My Review:  As was the case with The Ghost Downstairs, this is a tricky one to review, because there's a twist that changes everything you thought you knew, and seeing it happen is a big part of the fun. I'll deal with that in the spoiler section, below.  Meanwhile I'll just talk a bit about the characters and some of the elements I loved. Daniel is the MC and narrator.  I really hadn't expected to like having a male pov, (girls are just so much nicer!), but Daniel, despite his pretensions to cad-hood, is an awfully nice guy.  Like many Molly characters he's not without his flaws - he's a bit self-absorbed, manipulative with women, can be heartless when it's time to move on (which, as it happens, turns out to be pretty regularly).  But he's also generous of spirit, kind, funny and a good friend.  He's actually a bit naive, and as Molly has said elsewhere, there's a good boyfriend in there waiting to come out.  He's good company to spend a book with.  He's got some great lines, too: "Sexual tension, back at last! How I missed thee!"  In short, a great MC you relate to, empathize with and root for all the way.Julie, charming, but somewhat enigmatic.  It's so weird in this genre to know what the boy is thinking, and not the girl.  Girls in books always perceive boys as so inscrutable, so it's nice to see the tables turned.  Julie is also not without her faults.  Her fidelity is a bit shaky, her judgment sometimes impaired, and she's got a few family secrets in her capacious closet as well.  In other words, she feels real, vulnerable and mega-crush worthy.  And happily for us, Daniel is up to the task!  He can crush like nobody's business, seriously.  And of course the old "shoes on the other foot now, Mr. Heartbreaker," is part of the schaden-fun.One thing I love to think about and explore is the meaning of character names (at least in a book where there's enough going on to make it worth it, and that's def the case here) so here goes nothin'!  Dan and Julie are star-crossed lovers, no doubt about it.  And once you've said that, the name Julie made me think of Juliet.  And Daniel as Romeo? How bout this quote?"Some consequence, yet hanging in the stars,Shall bitterly begin his fearful dateWith this night's revels and expire the termOf a despised life..."It was at those "revels" that R&J; met, and Romeo "stoked" the fires of love from the torches he references when first seeing Juliet.  So maybe the characters' names reference not only two great lovers, but the issues between their families they must confront.  Or maybe that's a bit of a stretch, but a fun one, I hope (hey, I'm on a roll, here!)The side characters here are fun and fully developed, especially Sinter, Dan's gothy theater major roommate.  Dan's family, with all their painful and hidden past are well drawn, especially his grandmother, quite a character, with a few twists of her own to reveal.The device of including Cyrano as part of the story is also inspired, what an intensely passionate romance it is, and the story captures that spirit beautifully.Sigh, that's a lot of words, and I feel I've failed to capture the fun, cleverness and intensity this novel delivers.  I love all of Molly's books, as you can see by my reviews, but I think this one really kicks it up a notch, and I can only encourage you to experience it first hand.SPOILER SECTION -- HEADS UP -- DON'T READ IF YOU HAVEN'T FINISHED.I'm still not going to reveal the precise nature of the obstacle fate has thrown at our couple.  But apparently it's sufficiently transgressive that it has put off some readers (I'm still looking for those reviews, btw!).  Maybe it's me, but I found it just added a bit of forbidden frisson to the already superhot relationship between these two.  Daniel makes a good case for why it should be irrelevant, and I was persuaded, and Julie seems to have reached a similar conclusion on her own.  It's a theme in lots of books, and obviously has quite a pedigree in the classics, too.  I loved Molly's blog post on cheating in romance novels, and I think the same kind of issues are relevant here. I hope it doesn't limit the audience for this book, it sure deserves a big one!