Josh Shine is hardly in the cool crowd, and he likes it that way. He'd rather play his guitar, watch old movies with his buddies, and hang out with Ramona, his other best friend. Enter new girl Jena Capistrano, and Josh thinks it's love at his first sight. Alas, Jena is also now the new best friend of Queen Bee Tilda Kopel, enough to quash any thought of romance. But miracles do happen, and Jena and Josh become friends. Josh struggles to stay in the friend zone, but sometimes he gets an inkling that Jena feels more than friendship. He knows that the only way to find out is to ask her, but he's afraid to take the risk. Josh is a sympathetic, likable character, and his circle of off-kilter friends complements him well. The narrative breaks free of the typical plot of an "uncool" boy winning the heart of a popular girl by exploring the dynamics of relationships and what participants really want. Funny, sweet, and refreshing, this is a teen romance with substance.

Unrequited love is always a painful trip, especially if you're a teenager who falls pretty far outside the popular crowd.Josh Shine is excellent at math, short, and outspoken—which means he doesn't get along well with the popular people at his school. When he first sees Jenevieve Capistrano, he can't imagine what Jena would ever see in him, but once they start serendipitously talking after her dad finds him in a tree, it turns out they have more in common than is evident at first glance. A comfortable friendship ensues, but Josh wants more—he just doesn't know how to tell her. It's hard for Josh to be her fallback friend, and it's hard for his real friends to watch him bend over backward to please her. Descriptions give the impression of a mostly white cast of characters sharing the narrative, which bounces disconcertingly from point of view to point of view. While there is no new ground being explored in this book, Sheldon again proves herself adept at conveying the confusion and gnawing self-doubt that characterize the lives of teenagers, who are all trying to see themselves and one another as clearly as they can.A fairly sweet addition to a fairly crowded genre. (Fiction. 12-15)

Using a droll third-person narrative, Sheldon (The Truth About My Success) hilariously chronicles an endearingly dorky teenager-s first infatuation. Josh Shine is smitten with new girl Jena Capistrano the first time he sees her, but she ignores him until the day Josh is out walking his best friend Ramona-s highly energetic dog, which runs up the Capistranos- tree. The two become friends, despite the fact that Jena has become part of the popular crowd at school, which vintage movie watcher and chess player Josh is in no danger of joining. Jena appreciates Josh-s reliability and frequently asks him to come to the rescue when she is frightened about being alone or brooding over one of her many less-than-perfect dates (-Jena-s dates may all have something wrong with them,- writes Sheldon, -but it is never that they have a face that is best seen from behind-). Meanwhile, Josh-s friend Ramona is secretly crushing on him, and Josh-s friend Sal has fallen for Ramona. It-s not hard to predict how things will shake out, but Sheldon-s romantically entangled plot offers plenty of entertainment. Ages 12-up. (Feb.)

Gr 7 Up-Josh Shine walks through life, uncaring that most people consider him odd. Surrounded by his best friends Sal, Carver, and Ramona, Josh is happy to drink herbal tea, practice yoga, and have philosophical conversations with his cat, Charley Patton. But when Jena Capistrano waltzes into his life, it is love at first sight, much to the chagrin of Josh's friends, especially Ramona. Jena is everything Josh isn't, and even with these differences, both become fast friends. Of course, Josh wants more than friendship but now finds himself beholden to being the stereotypical best male friend for fear of ruining the closeness he shares with Jena. Blinded to Ramona's burgeoning feelings for him, Josh is on a collision course with love that could prove disastrous and humiliating. This is a sweetly innocent look at teen dating and its mishaps that fails to rise above clichéd tropes. The self-absorption of the characters, though authentically teen, makes it difficult to root for any of them. VERDICT Recommended as an additional purchase for teen romance collections. Michelle Foster, North Caroline High School, Ridgely, MD