Waiting for You by Susane Colasanti

About the book

Waiting for You is a stand-alone contemporary young adult novel by Susane Colasanti. The book was published by Speak on 6^th April 2010 and it is 336 pages long.

Plot Synopsis

A new year at school means a brand new start for Marisa. She wants people to think of her differently, be cooler and get herself a boyfriend during her sophomore year. Who will the guy be though? There’s Derek, the hot and popular guy, geeky next door neighbour Nash and the mysterious underground DJ who seems to understand everything that Marisa is going through. Marisa’s choice seems easy enough to her but will it be the right one?

What I thought

I was really looking forward to reading this book after having it sat on my shelf for so long. I really enjoy contemporary stories during the summer and I was hoping that this was going to be good.

Waiting for You begins just as Marisa is about to start her sophomore year at school which means for her, a brand new start. She loves reinventing herself every year and trying to become the person she wants to be. While I did think this was a lovely and brave idea, it did also seem that she just wanted to fit in with whatever was happening each year. Marisa seemed like a nice enough girl, and a pretty normal teenager but I just didn’t warm to her very much. She came across as a bit of a sheep, only wanting what others had and not being herself a lot of the time.

There were, however, some good secondary characters though who made things more interesting. Marisa’s best friend Sterling was a great character to read about because she had a wonderful personality, loads of unique aspects to her and generally pretty fun. The next door neighbour, Nash, was also a good character who was very different to Marisa and the popular guy love interest, Derek. I kind of wish that Sterling had been the protagonist in this book instead of Marisa because she was far more interesting to read about.

I hate to say it but the plot was extremely bland for me for the most part. Waiting for You is pretty much the story of Marisa deciding which boy to choose. There is very little chemistry between her and her love interest, nor is their relationship believable. I didn’t understand Marisa’s choices other than the fact that she thought Derek was hot which is definitely not enough to go on. There are a few problems that Marisa encounters along the way though which are supposed to spice things up a bit and make the plot more interesting but for me, these things felt like page fillers and they weren’t really needed.

Also, the whole underground DJ aspect to the book bugged the hell out of me. Honestly, it read like a written rip-off of the film Pump Up The Volume but for a younger audience. Even the kinds of advice the DJ gives and the things he talks about are similar to things that happen in the film. Pump Up The Volume is one of my all-time favourite films and I felt a bit cheated by having to read something so similar and not at all unique. I think that this DJ idea could have been used and done well if it wasn’t so similar to something that already exists.

I really wanted to enjoy this book but the plot was quite non-existent and the protagonist a bit boring.