Stone, Tanya Lee. A Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl, A Novel.

STONE, Tanya Lee. A bad boy can be good for a girl, a novel. Random House, Wendy Lamb. 223p. c2006. 0-385-74702-0. $14.95. S*

This amazing first novel is one of the most honest treatments of teenage sexuality to be found in YA fiction--it will definitely be provocative. Stone tells the story in poetry, and the terseness makes the feelings that much more vivid. The format is inventive: there are three girls telling the story of their seduction by the same bad boy, each in turn.

Josie begins, with a series of poems about her freshman year in high school. She has confidence in herself, but finds her critical thinking skills not much help when an attractive senior boy seduces her. She is vulnerable to his attention even when she suspects he isn't always sincere, and he knows how to make her body respond to his touches and kisses. She manages to resist him sexually, and when he ditches her, she goes to the library and writes in the back of the book Forever, by Judy Blume, the details of what a jerk he is.

Next to experience the "bad boy" is Nicolette, completely different from Josie. Nicolette has had sex before and prides herself on being in control of relationships. She loses control in this relationship because the sex is so exciting she believes she is in love. In actuality, he is treating her like a whore, which finally she has to face--she finds comfort in reading about Josie's experience when she is told to check in the back of Forever. The third girl, Aviva, has a different story to tell, but she too is betrayed and finds solace in the sisterhood who share their experiences.

Each girl makes different choices when confronted with the attentions of an irresistible older guy who behaves shamefully. Each wants to believe she is special, the exception, the girl he really loves. Aviva, though hurt, manages to puncture his defenses. We are accustomed to stories of how much girls want to be loved, and this one doesn't contradict that truth, but adds to it the power of sexual desire. An adolescent boy's strong sex drive is a given, but here is the poetry of a girl's body responding to seduction. This will be much talked about, and every reader who has been swept away in a love affair will recognize its truth. Claire Rosser, KLIATT