In honor of Rainbow Rowell receiving a Printz honor, I’m dedicating this month to Eleanor & Park. And you know what? It’s just romantic enough to cover the Valentine’s Day holiday, too!
Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
Synopsis
“TWO MISFITS. ONE EXTRAORDINARY LOVE. It’s 1986 and two star-crossed teens are smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. When Eleanor meets Park, you’ll remember your own first love–and just how hard it pulled you under. A cross between the iconic ’80s movie Sixteen Candles and the classic coming-of-age novel Looking for Alaska, Eleanor & Park is a brilliantly written young adult novel.”
Jen’s Review
After reading Fangirl a couple of months ago, I knew I had to read everything ever written by Rainbow Rowell. So, I put a hold on Eleanor & Park at the library, and after waiting forever, I finally got my hands on it. And it hardly left my hands in the two days it took me to read it. What a great story! Sweet and endearing with a tough edge. Rainbow Rowell definitely knows how to build characters that want to be heard and remembered. And I’ll always remember Eleanor and Park. Although I couldn’t relate to their story as much as I can to Cath’s in Fangirl, I can visualize it and feel it all the same.
Eleanor & Park is an addictive tale that takes the reader on a roller coaster of emotions. Anger. Humor. Fear. Love. I’ve never read a contemporary romance quite like this one. It was a perfect combination of reality and fantasy. Of life sucks and life rocks. Of “Oh, my god.” and “Oh my God!” You go from smirking at Eleanor and Park’s resentful start, to grinning at their magical connection, to holding your breath at their uncertain future.
In a nutshell, it’s awesome. It is!
If you haven’t read Eleanor & Park yet (or any of Rainbow Rowell’s books for that matter), then it’s time to get in the game. Don’t miss out on these wonderful plots and memorable characters!
Jen’s Rating
Jen's Pen Den 
I read fangirl back in December and fell in love with Rainbow’s style of writing. It was a refreshing love story after reading books upon books of Erotica and steamy Contemporary Romances. The story itself was so hard to put down that I read it in a day and a half lol I can’t wait to read her other books and now thanks to your review I’m chomping at the bit read Eleanor and Park!
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I absolutely loved Fangirl! I could totally relate to Cath. She’s like me in so many ways…I just started reading Rowell’s other novel, Attachments, and I’m already in love with it, too. She’s an amazing author. She just knows how to get inside your head/heart every time! Can’t wait to hear what you think of Eleanor & Park!
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Ahh!! Lol stop! Now I’m going to have to put this book I’m currently reading down so that I can read Eleanor and Park… My to-be-read pile is going to cave in on me one of these days.
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HAHA! Tell me about it. I’m currently trying to outrun the tidal wave of books I’ve reserved from the library. Read, read, read….Faster, faster, faster…haha.
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Lol yup. That seems to be the mantra lately…. Or more like Read, Write, Read, Write…BLOG. Lol
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Yes!! Exactly.
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