4.5. For sure.

There is a lot of genius in this book that I can't help but appreciate as a fellow writer - not least the 1980s setting avoiding the invasive ways we are so contactable in 2014, not to mention the song references - but I enjoyed the real charm of this story as nothing but a reader. This is high praise.

In fact, even higher praise is that I curled my body around this book and read it in just three sittings spread over a lazy Saturday and Sunday. As I did I felt like I was 16 again myself and that the book had the same sweet and racy appeal - but in a completely innocent way - as my first reading of Judy Blume's books.

While I struggled to answer a few questions about the plot - I'll hold them back so as to avoid spoilers - I don't think they were deal-breakers. In fact, maybe they were "novel-makers" because all my favourite books leave my wondering, and hoping, and wishing... And I did all of those things for Eleanor & Park, and then some.