Eleanor & Park

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell, 328 pages

Set in 1986, Eleanor & Park is a first-love story between red-headed, poverty-stricken Eleanor and Park, the only Asian American in Omaha (or so it would seem). The pair first meets on the bus to school, when Park takes pity on the poor new girl and allows her to share a seat with him. Soon, they start bonding over comic books and music. Rowell writes a great slow-burning love story that's also a complete page-turner. It's reminiscent of Daniel Handler's excellent Why We Broke Up, but unlike in that book, the reader doesn't know how this one's going to end. Rowell does a great job keeping us guessing, up to and beyond the last page. I particularly like the fact that this story is told through both main characters' points of view, which adds insight that is lacking in just about every teen love story I've read. It's sweet and kind of sad, but still fills the reader with lots of warm fuzzies.