Publishers Weekly
★ 10/03/2016
Gottfred (Forever for a Year) offers a hilarious and deeply honest look at high school love through the alternating voices of two teens. Penelope “Pen” Lupo is dating the most popular boy in school, yet at the cost of keeping her true self hidden, especially the sexually voracious part that Pen thinks makes her “Such. A. Freak!” Benedict Pendleton is as smart, cerebral, and socially obtuse as his academic father, but he’s also hiding an emotionally vulnerable part of himself that longs for connection. An unlikely couple to say the least, the two 16-year-olds find common ground at a winter resort, where they fall for each other and learn how to be “not normal” together. Gottfred creates addictive, true-to-life voices for both characters whose thoughts, decisions, and experience help guide the sex-positive relationship that takes shape. Although this novel includes detailed descriptions and discussions of masturbation, consent, and first-time sex, it’s never didactic or heavy-handed, and instead offers a raw, empowering, and lighthearted view of first love and teenage—and especially female—sexuality. Ages 17–up. Agent: Jill Grinberg, Grinberg Literary Management. (Nov.)
From the Publisher
Praise for The Nerdy and the Dirty:
"A truly beautiful story about passionately falling in love with another and learning to love and share your true self." —Kirkus Reviews, starred review
"This is a love story that is genuine, explicit, passionate, and often adorable." —Booklist, starred review
"A hilarious and deeply honest look at high school love.... Gottfred creates addictive, true-to-life voices for both characters." —Publishers Weekly, starred review
"Completely sweet and poignant. It has everything to do with the sincerity and authenticity of the characters." —VOYA, starred review
"Readers will cheer as these two endearing, unique, and believably voiced characters learn to finally be real—with themselves, with each other, and with the world." —The Horn Book
Praise for Forever for a Year:
"Debut author Gottfred captures the starry-eyed exhilaration of first love (and nervous first explorations of sex) with tenderness and humor....Readers will need hearts of steel not to fall for this love story and its two storytellers." —Publishers Weekly, starred review
"A swoon-inducing and heartbreaking novel for most YA collections." —School Library Journal
"Gottfred is plainly a talent to watch. Both emotionally satisfying and sure to be much discussed." —Kirkus Reviews
School Library Journal
10/01/2016
Gr 10 Up—Benedict Maximus Pendleton is the son of a best-selling author and completely unable to interact with his peers because of his "social problems," as he calls them. Penelope Lupo feels trapped by her popularity and suspects that her sexual appetite makes her a freak. When simultaneous family vacations force them together, Benedict and Pen discover that the things that make them different might make them perfect for each other. Through their bond, both are able to recognize unhealthy relationships and set boundaries. Their romance, though intense, is quite positive in that neither wants to change in order to find love. While it is important to have books that represent a range of teen sexual experiences and appetites, the gratuitous masturbatory details and unrealistic first sexual encounter add nothing to the story. There is never the realization that Pen's healthy sexual urges are not "dirty," merely that she stops caring that they are. The author relies on different stereotypes, including those related to Catholics, Italians, and teenage girls. Most troubling are the stereotypes about people who have difficulty understanding social cues, which define Benedict as nerdy and reinforce the idea that people with these issues are simply awkward or difficult and that their struggles to interact with others are humorous. Readers should know that the text contains many ableist terms referring to mental illness as well as a slur commonly applied to people with Down syndrome. VERDICT Though this work is not completely without charm, lazy characterization and offensive language make it a pass for school and most public libraries.—Elizabeth Saxton, Tiffin, OH
Kirkus Review
★ 2016-08-02
Benedict Pendleton and Penelope Lupo are the unlikeliest of unlikely high school couples. Intelligent and painfully socially awkward, 16-year-old Benedict lives life perfectly, as described by his father in his bestselling book, Being a Perfect Person. Foulmouthed, 16-year-old Pen is a cool girl with tight, black clothes and a popular boyfriend. Only this isn’t who they really are at all. It is only when fate intervenes and the two wind up at the same resort over winter vacation that dark-olive–skinned Pen and white Benedict both find each other and find themselves. Told in alternating and delightfully distinct first-person chapters, this novel is a profoundly open and honest exploration of teen identity, sexuality, and connection. There is also plenty of humor, particularly when it comes to Benedict’s inability to filter his thoughts and words. Secondary characters, such as Pen’s mother and Benedict’s father, add depth and will leave some readers reaching toward the pages looking for a neck to throttle. This is a novel that will surely arouse emotion. It will offend some who may not be prepared to embrace a young woman openly obsessed with sex, particularly with pleasuring herself. Some may be disturbed by the frank descriptions of sexual interactions between teen partners. Those readers are missing the point and depriving themselves. A truly beautiful story about passionately falling in love with another and learning to love and share your true self. (Fiction. 14 & up)
