Bizarre.
Considering I don't do novels in verse. At least I didn't.
Until this one.

Oddly compelling.
A wonderful read in its own charming way. ( )

I am in love with novels in verses ♥

This book was so cute, lyrical and dripping with sweetness, it left me in a puddle of mush.. ( )

The main character in this novel is 16 year old Marcie who moves suddenly from Idaho to her mother's family's summerhouse in New Hampshire. This is due to Marcie's mother leaving her father after he admits to having an affair and falling in love with another man.

As readers we get to see Marcie's private thoughts as expressed in her notebook. However, as many teens before her have done, Marcie has written some really bad poetry to express how she feels about her mom, her dad, and leaving her friends and boyfriend Linus behind in Idaho. For Marcie and her friends consider themselves leftovers since they really don't fit in with any one social group at their school. Though Marcie misses her friends she really misses the fact that she no longer has someone that she can kiss, hug, just be with and that causes her to feel badly about thinking about cheating on her boyfriend Linus.

So for me this was just a typical teen angst novel that with a twist due to all of the chapters being written as poetry or in some cases just exact language from IMs or conversations that Marcie has with her friends and family are written.

I think that if Ms. Tregay had told this as a straight forward coming of age story I would have liked it more. Instead I found myself getting annoyed with some of the poems that were included because it just reminded me how completely aggravating and clueless I was at that age when writing my bad poetry. And not to knock the character of Marcie or anything but she at times comes across as extremely selfish and clueless about things which makes her a tough character to side with while reading. ( )

Whilst I enjoyed the actual writing in "Love and Leftovers", I found it difficult to connect with the main character. The story was told through the poems fifteen-year-old Marcie wrote in her notebook dealing with her loneliness since moving, her gay father, her mother's depression since the divorce and her longing for love and affection.

Unfortunately, I didn't think Marcie was a good protagonist and she frustrated me with the bad choices she made, the main one being that she cheated on her boyfriend. She was also selfish, annoying and she lied constantly. Most of the story focused on her self=pity and guilt, and wondering why her friends (known as the leftovers) no longer liked her. Duh! By the halfway mark, I didn't like her either.

Linus, on the other hand, was a sweetheart, and far too good for Macie. I loved the swoon-worthy songs he wrote her and his interactions with his little niece were touching and extremely cute. Basically, he was the perfect boyfriend - kind, forgiving and adorable. It was just a shame his girlfriend was nowhere near as nice.

"Love and Leftovers" was a quick read and I like most of the characters except for Marcie who spoilt the story. ( )

I have fallen in love with books written in verse, and this one, while written in verse left me wanting. The writing was awesome, the plot a great one and it was a very quick read even being over 400 pages. I just didn't really relate to the characters at all. Being thrown into the story in almost the middle was kind of confusing, but there was enough info there, so I wasn't totally like "huh???"
The basis of the story is that Marcie the main character is dating this guy, her mother figures out that her father was cheating with another guy and she takes Marcie to the "summerhouse" that the family owns. Only it isn't just for the summer. They up and moved from Idaho to New Hampshire, and Marcie isn't the least bit happy about it. You can tell that her mother is depressed and throughout the whole book she is just about the worst mother to Marcie. Marcie is still in contact with her friends from Idaho and her boyfriend, but she starts to fall for a townie while attending school.
One thing leads to another and all of a sudden mom tries to actually act like a mother and calls in Marcie's Dad. Dad takes Marcie back to Idaho and while Marcie tries to slip tight back into her old routine, she ends up confessing to her boyfriend Linus about J.D. They break up and all of her old friends pretty much turn on her.
They get their happy ending, and everything is tied up in a nice and neat bow. I started and finished the book in a day (6 hours total, with time for dinner and kids' baths), so it is a very quick read if you have time. ( )