seth baumgartner's love manifesto by eric luper

seth's summer vacation is starting off really crappy. first, his girlfriend veronica breaks up with him at applebees, then he catches his father with another woman. but if that wasn't enough he loses his job, too. in a very, very funny way this novel is about heartache, love, truth, and friendship. with a hilarious cast of characters this is not a novel to overlook.

seth starts an anonymous podcast that deals with getting over his girlfriend, following his father's mistress, and figuring out what love is. we only get snippets of the love manifesto throughout the novel but they're insightful and capture seth's understanding of love as it grows and develops in his own mind. also, it's accompanied by a ironic and humorously fitting playlist of music that everyone will be able to recognize and say "haha, i totally feel you!"

it's hard to summarize this novel. there's golf, there's love, there's the crazy best friend, the parents you love to hate then hate to love. but throughout all of it the characters are real and are people you want to be friends with. the voice of this novel is funny, bittersweet, and genuine. i absolutely couldn't get enough of it. i actually laughed out loud reading this, and often. there were great one-liners. and also there were some awww moments. if i could pick a novel that spoke to me, this would be it. because it's so real. it's not overly dramatic, it's not unrealistically funny. i think teens will be able to relate to seth, and dimitri, and even veronica. each character represents a part of our teenage years and we've all been there.

so go pick this up. i was reluctant to read it because i'd heard nothing about it. but it's so totally worth it. there's no hype about it, so just dive into for a good laugh and a good read. i dare you to anything but love this novel when you're done. i highly, highly recommend it.