The Art of Feeling

Gr 9 Up—This novel takes a well-worn but effective page from the handbook of rare disease and disaster YA romances. In this somewhat predictable but ultimately satisfying love story, Samantha—still coping with the death of her mother and the permanent injuries she sustained in a car accident—meets Eliot, who lives with congenital analgesia, a disease which leaves him unable to feel pain. Eliot and Samantha have some serious walls up as a result of their respective traumas, and their friendship-turned-romance seems partially born out of a need to protect someone outside of their own personal tragedies. The relationship is backlit by Eliot's role as the school's number one bullying victim which is perpetrated by resident drug dealer Anthony, a childhood friend of Samantha's who is revealed to have played a key role in her mother's death. Crisis is followed by crisis as the bullying escalates; but with a climactic and teary ending, the walls between the two protagonists start to crumble and healing begins. This novel will satiate the needs of the myriad fans of the box-of-tissues at your side teen drama.