BOY DOWN UNDER

Author: Sally Odgers ISBN: 0843954531 10/2004 TEEN FICTION/Fantasy Publisher: SMOOCH

Sun! Surf! Guys with great abs! That's what American Rowena Maven expects from her year in Australia. Reality is the Roach Hotel she's staying in, and the chewing gum on her shoes. That's until Patrick Carroll drops out of the sky. Suddenly, Ro's got a boyfriend. Sort of. He shows up when she least expects him, wherever she happens to be. He's magic. He walks on clouds but he's no angel, and what's with the lip-zip thing: she's got a boyfriend, but she can't tell the world-or even her best friend Hallie? And on the day she does, he vanishes. Lip-zipped or lovelorn, are those her only options! Not if Ro can uncover the true Boy Down Under.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

In BOY DOWN UNDER, Rowena “Ro” Maven and her mother move to Australia for a year. It’s not exactly what Ro expected. Instead of sun and fun on the beach with cute guys, she’s stuck in the “Roach Motel”, a run-down apartment infested with roaches. Unexpectedly Patrick Carroll literally drops into her life and her balcony. Ro and Patrick really hit it off, but there’s a big catch. Ro’s not sure what to think of Patrick, especially when he starts taking her to flower-filled gardens and for a walk in the clouds.

BOY DOWN UNDER is really more of a fantasy than a romance. Granted, there is a bit of a romance between Ro and Patrick and the hint of more at the end. But, I was more interested in figuring out whom, or more aptly, what Patrick is. When a boy appears and disappears at an instant and time stops whenever he’s around, there is definitely something strange occurring. I spent the entire novel wondering about Patrick – was he a ghost, a figment of Ro’s imagination or something else? A twist from most Smooch titles, BOY DOWN UNDER isn’t what I’d call humorous. With a complex storyline and a few unexpected twists, the reader doesn’t understand everything until the last few pages. Overall, Ms. Odgers has written an intriguing story that makes you think.

Kendra Patterson