Dedication

by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus

Book Overview

Kate Hollis's ex-boyfriend's face plasters newsstands and TV, the Internet, and the multiplex. Jake Sharpe is one of the biggest recording stars on the planet, and every song he's famous for is about... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 141654013X
• ISBN13: 9781416540137
• Release Date: June 2007
• Publisher: Atria Books
• Length: 279 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.3" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

A surprisingly great read

When 7th grader Katie Hollis stands on a chair and announces to her entire class that she likes Jake Sharpe - the quiet boy in Jams she watches playing dodgeball in PE - she has no idea that she has just bonded herself with him for the rest of their lives. Throughout middle school and high school, Katie and Jake share flirtation, the most private parts of their lives, and first love. Katie is Jake's muse, the one he and his band write songs about, and she is determined they'll be together forever. Until he stands her up on prom night and completely disappears. Flash forward twelve years later, when Jake Sharpe has resurfaced as a megastar. He has won a Grammy, an Oscar, and the hearts of millions of fans with his hit song "Losing It," which just happens to be about the night that Katie lost her virginity to him. What's more, all the other hit songs on Jake's album are about Katie and her family, detailing an incident they'd much rather not have public. And Jake has neglected to give credit to his high school band buddies that helped him write all his current hits. Katie vows to get revenge for herself, royalties for her friends, and to make Jake Sharpe "Regret His Entire Existence." But seeing her old flame after all this time stirs up old feelings that are hard to ignore. Can Katie put the past behind her and move on? I bought this book for $4.98 off a bookstore bargain table because I thought it might be a decent summer read. And it turns out, this was one of the best ones I've read in awhile -- I LOVED it!! I spent my commute to work and lunch hours devouring as much of it as I could - and getting strange stares from my fellow commuters as I repeatedly laughed out loud. The authors' descriptions of middle school and high school life and romance are hiliarously dead-on. And I found Katie to be a likeable and sympathetic character the entire way through. I felt for her as she liked Jake, loved Jake, tried to leave his memory behind, and tried to get her revenge. If you're in the mood for a surprisingly heartwarming, funny story, this one's for you -- particularly if you were in middle/high school sometime in the 90s.

A great Beach Book! Get your sunblock and dig in!

First let me state that I bought this book for a beach read. I did not expect it to be a masterpiece. I have to tell you that this book was GREAT. Having gone to high school in the late 80's I loved the references. Some actually made me laugh out loud. The story was great! I found myself rooting for Jake to come out on the other end a decent guy. I read this book in one day because it was so engaging. Look, take this book for what it is and you will LOVE it... It's a great light summertime book that you can't put down. Its not going to change the world, but I think it will be a great movie someday!

Enchanting & Clever, their best book yet!

I am big fan of McLaughlin and Kraus' previous two novels (yes, I actually liked "Citizen Girl"!), so it shouldn't have come as any surprise to me that I completely fell in love with "Dedication". Their latest novel is without a doubt their best, showing a level of down-to-earth humor, maturity, and depth of character that was missing in their previous works. Not as chick-lit as "Nanny Diaries", and not as scattered and abstract as "Citizen Girl", "Dedication" shows that these authors have really grown in their craft. At first I wasn't too sure if I liked the alternating chapters, where one chapter is set in modern-day, and the next chapter is set in the past. However, as the novel progresses, and Katie and Jake's modern-day relationship crescendos, and we get to see the growing strength of the relationship of their youth, it somehow just feels right that the book is laid out the way it is. I found myself being just as exasperated and in love with Jake as Katie was, and I was moved by the growth in the adult Katie as she dealt with Jake and her family and friends and life. The early encounters of Jake and Katie, filled with the awkwardness, excitement, and all-encompassing obsession of first love, are written so beautifully and so truthfully, I just could not put the book down. The issues that Katie deals with regarding her friends and family only make the novel that much richer for me, as it creates even more depth in her character, and maturity in the novel. Katie deals with life, love, and family in a funny, logical way, that I really identified with. There were a few typos, and several awkwardly-worded phrases that had me scratching my head, but overall, the novel was superb. By far, "Dedication" is McLaughlin and Kraus' best novel to date, and has earned a permanent place on my bookcase! Grade: A

Revenge, Forgiveness, or Closure?

If someone you loved had wronged you so intensely that it changed the course of your life, would you seek revenge? Or forgiveness? Or just closure? This is the central theme of writing duo Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus's excellent new novel, Dedication. The pair spin an entirely believable tale about spurned love and anger that burns unabated for thirteen years, and they bring it full circle with an excellent ending. Katie Hollis first falls "in love" with Jake Sharpe in sixth grade, and their relationship is a series of ups and downs over the course of their school years. Told in chapters that alternate between 2005 and those growing up years, we follow the development of the characters as Jake begins to realize his love of music and Katie's family life falls apart. Then the unthinkable happens: Jake hits the big time, and he leaves Katie and his friends behind, not even recognizing his fellow band mates' contributions on his first hit single and thus denying them any of the significant royalties. When Jake finally returns to his hometown 13 years on, Katie is alerted and, in true hell hath no fury form, she finds herself ready to confront him and "make him regret his entire existence"...or does she? Can she actually let the past go in order to form a future? This is a page-turner of a novel, with lots of little 80s details thrown in and an enduring love story as the backbone. It will make you question what you would do if facing the same obsession; would you be the bigger person or would you fight back for the life taken from you? And is it all worth it? Definitely a good summer read, and a heart-wrenching one at that. Recommended.

Spectacularly Funny and Smart

I absolutely loved it. It has all the humor and intelligence of the Nanny Diaries and Citizen Girl and deals with a topic everyone can relate to: the desire to be able to go back in time and right the cosmic wrongs of adolescence. While this book could be very funny while staying on that topic, it manages to weave in a very real and complicated family dynamic that adds a deep level of complexity to the book. The book splices from the past to the present and yet never loses the reader who is eagerly awaiting the outcomes of the interconnected plots. I loved it and would highly recommend it!