My Boyfriends' Dogs

Gr 9-Up Just before midnight, Bailey Daley and her three dogs are allowed inside a closed-up cafe to shelter from the driving rain. The proprietor, an employee, and the last customer eye her curiously, wondering what she's doing there in a prom dress and with her pets. Bailey explains that each animal belonged to a different ex-boyfriend. By night's end, she has gained a better understanding of what she requires in a Perfect Boyfriend and that she needs to be honest about who she is in order to land him. Up till now, she has been so desperate for a boyfriend that she's been blind to his flaws, and she has changed to accommodate these character defects. Her shallow need to be partnered is her defining character trait; readers get little sense of her otherwise. The only message readers can take away from this novel is that the way to be happy is to date someone who meets every criterion on Bailey's "Perfect Boyfriend" list. While Mackall follows the teen from her sophomore through senior years, Bailey sounds like someone in her 30s."Brandy Danner, Wilmington Memorial Library, MA" Copyright 2010 Media Source Inc.