Book: Love and Leftovers by Sarah Tregay, Katherine Tegan Books, December 27, 2011, YA Contemporary, Standalone Book
Format/pages: Read Overdrive library ebook, also available in hardcover 451 pages.
Rating: 4 / 5 Stars
Love and Leftovers caught my eye with its cute cover and title, and discovering it’s a verse novel just clinched the deal. I’ve only read a handful of verse novels so far but have really fallen for the format. Usually the stories are quick but fulfilling reads, and impactful with the expressive, sparse prose. The style works well for this book because the main character Marcie writes short poetic entries in her journal, which becomes the format for the book.
Marcie and her mother beat a hasty retreat out of Idaho one summer and head to New Hampshire when her parent’s marriage dissolves. Marcie leaves behind her rocker boyfriend Linus and group of friends they have dubbed the Leftovers. Summer turns to fall and soon Marcie is starting a new school year in her new adopted home. She’s out of the Leftover group at her new school when popular football player JD starts to pay her some attention. Marcie has mixed feelings about her new life and her father and friends she left behind and tries her best to hold it together.
I like the idea of the Leftovers, the group of friends who don’t fit into one particular group. I always liked the Leftover, or Floater group in school and think that’s a fun group to be in. Marcie, though, makes it sound kind of negative and would rather join the popular group in her new school. Things get questionable when Marcie is less than honest with her loving boyfriend back home about her new life in New Hampshire.
Marcie is flawed and realistic, and I could relate to her even though I didn’t always agree with her way of handling things. I liked how she grew as a person throughout the book, and the way the relationships with her friends and family evolved. There are some great emotional and heartwarming scenes with the adults and friends in Marcie’s life.
Love and Leftovers is an enjoyable book, perfect for contemporary fans or for fans of verse novels. The characters, witty writing, and story are entertaining and make it a quick read. I would love to read more from Sarah Tregay.
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I was drawn to the cute cover too! To be honest, up until know, I didn’t really read the synopsis. So that’s what “leftovers” means. Huh, interesting. I like how you described Marcie. I have a copy of the ARC and I’ll definitely push it up the TBR list. Thanks for the great review, Lucy!
Leftovers sounds kind of sad but I didn’t find them to be a misfit group at all. They were pretty cool actually. Hope you enjoy it when you get the chance to read it 🙂
I love novels in verse too. I’ll have to look for this one!
Me too! I’m always looking for more recommendations for verse novels.
I think every time I see this book reviewed I comment “I want to read this! I love this! Blah, blah blah!” So why haven’t I? It just sounds like too good of a book to put off much longer.
So many books, so little time, right? The good thing about verse novels is they are truly fast reads. You can get through this in just a few hours.
I’m such a fan of verse novels! And yeah while Marcie didn’t always make the smartest choices, I thought she was realistic in that no one is perfect.
And yeah, free verse was the perfect style for Love And Leftovers!