Novel Review: How They Met and Other Stories by David Levithan

Genre: YA Contemporary Short Stories

Rating (Out of 5): ~4

Publisher: Random House (Alfred A. Knopf)

Spoilers?: No.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Just in time for Valentine’s Day comes a confection from David Levithan that is sure to have fans of Boy Meets Boy eager to devour it. Here are 18 stories, all about love, all kinds of love. From the aching for the one you pine for, to standing up and speaking up for the one you love, to pure joy and happiness, these love stories run the gamut of that emotion that at some point has turned every one of us inside out and upside down.

What is love? With this original story collection, David Levithan proves that love is a many splendored thing, a varied, complicated, addictive, wonderful thing.

Review:

This was the first book I read that was solely by Devid Levithan. I’ve read his co-author books with Rachel Cohn, and John Green, and maybe even some of his stories in some anthologies, but none of the books just by him. And after reading this, I’m going to have to get some more.

This is a book of short stories about different characters and their relationships, mostly romantic. They were all really good, and really interesting, and I enjoyed them. Some of my favorites were Starbucks Boy, The Alumni Interview, Princes, A Romantic Inclination, and Miss Lucy Had A Steamboat. But they were all really good. And each one was very different from the other. They had different characters, some had different styles of writing, and they had different messages, different purposes. I was quite impressed, as well as happy, with how much I enjoyed them all.

Most of them were about gay romances, but not all of them were. They weren’t all starring a teenage boy. They didn’t all have happy endings. Some had songs, one had science. Some were during school, some were during the summer, some had nothing to do with school. Each story had its own story to tell, and they were all very unique and different from the others.

This is a short review, but I don’t really have anything else to say. I enjoyed it quite a bit, that’s all.