Wonderfully depicted characters (mostly teenagers) dance, fumble, fly, and talk their way into romance. In settings ranging from classrooms and blind dates to an airline flight, a Bar Mitzvah, and a few bedrooms, the stories focus largely on affection and love, with a few instances of sexual activity. Many of the main characters are gay or lesbian, but there are straight characters, too, as well as a few whose sexual orientation is still forming. Among the stories is one Levithan wrote in high school, which, like the others here, is nicely written, witty, and quick to read. An impressive collection by a single author, this will pair well with Am I Blue? (1994), edited by Marion Dane Bauer.

Levithan writes about gay, lesbian, and straight couples in this collection of eighteen stories about love. From Ian's college interview with his closeted boyfriend's father to the girl whose mom thinks "all lesbians talked like Hillary Clinton and looked like Bill," each meticulously worded story conveys both weary cynicism and the romantic yearning of love intensified by the uncertainties of young adulthood.

Levithan, a YA author and children's-book editor, created 12 of the 14 stories collected here as Valentine's Day presents to family and friends. Fittingly, each is a story about love—between brothers, between man and wife, two boys, two girls or one of each. In "Skipping Prom," Kelly and her boyfriend do just what the title implies and lie in a field telling each other what they think is happening at the Prom, all the while feeling the weight of the certainty that their relationship is coming to an end. In "Alumni Interview," Ian must sit for a college-entrance interview with the father of his closeted boyfriend. No one leaves the room unscathed. Some, like the title story, are about how lovers meet, and others, like "Miss Lucy Had a Steamboat," are about painful but necessary breakups. Teens and older young adults will find themselves here and likely learn a little about that many-splendored emotion. (Fiction. YA)

With entries dating back to Levithan’s (<EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">Boy Meets Boy) student years, this diverse collection gathers 18 stories about love: gay, straight, young, old, inspiring, silly, heartrending—one is even written in a mix of verse and song lyrics. In “Breaking and Entering,” Peter misses his ex-boyfriend, now away at college, so he sneaks into his house and falls asleep in his bed, while in “Flirting with Waiters,” a 12-year-old girl falls for an older pizza boy, saying, “It was enough for me to have Seth come to <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">my house in <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">his own car and say 'the usual’ with a smile.” Even the early entries showcase his trademark love of wordplay (in “A Romantic Inclination,” written when the author was a high school junior, physics students James and Sallie decide not to pursue each other because “the friction of a merging of their hearts wouldn’t be beneficial. It would be theoretically and realistically wrong.” They demonstrate, too, his love of fantasy: in the story he wrote in his last year of high school, the somewhat jejune “Memory Dance,” elderly Mary literally flashes back to when love was new. Throughout, the author quickly brings his characters to life, and he explores concepts that will resonate with teens, such as the randomness of love (“Person after person after person... they all converge at one moment, irrevocably changing the course of a thousand more lives. As it is with accidents, so it is with love”). Sweet, sometimes bittersweet, these stories will leave readers satisfied. Ages 14-up. <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">(Jan.)

Gr 9 Up-These 18 short stories are about love-from unrequited, to longing, to being smitten, to family love and friendship. Levithan leaves no form untouched, and tells each tale passionately. This collection contains stories with such poignancy, brilliance, and warmth that anyone who has ever been in love (or wished they were) will enjoy them. In one selection, a teen awkwardly waits in line to catch the eye of a handsome Starbucks barista behind the counter. In another, Lucy learns what it is like to feel a broken heart, but comes out an independent, self-sufficient young woman. A Chinese-American girl is fixed up by her parents with the son of a Chinese business partner; two stories later, a gay boy tries to figure out the difference between lust and love. The portrayal of these teenagers' feelings across different sexual orientations and races is at once believable and accurate. An excellent choice for fans of Levithan's Boy Meets Boy (2003), Rachel Cohn and David Levithan's Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist (2006, both Knopf), and Francesca Lia Block's Necklace of Kisses (HarperCollins, 2005).-Marie C. Hansen, New York Public Library Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information.

With good reason, fans of Levithan will be waiting in line for his latest book. He writes of something about which everyone cares: love. Although each chapter is a different narrative, themes of love won, lost, betrayed, discovered, rejected, and embraced thread the work together to make these short stories read like chapters in an ongoing tale. Levithan's personal love story at the end brings the book full-circle. Levithan unveils love in all its forms and degrees of emotion. Readers move from the depths of despair and anger to the highs of pure joy and unabashed happiness. In its mostly complicated but sometimes simple way of playing out, love reveals as much as it conceals in these stories. Anyone who has ever doubted love, felt hurt or humiliated by it, or looked for a quick exit from its clutches will find something to relate to here. Likewise, those who have ached for love that they thought would never come, only to see it arrive when least expected, will also find their story. The many faces of love felt by various kinds of people are found in these pages. Like the notes Levithan made as a teenager that became the seeds of love stories he passed around to friends, expect this book to make its rounds. Whether to validate or deny a love experience, teens will be happy to meet characters that have gained or lost the world in this pressing emotion we call love.-Elaine J. O'Quinn.