love, fiction, Mexican Americans, Hispanics, high school,

A cute and quick read, but quite predictable. This has received good reviews so I was a bit surprised at its quality, but maybe teenagers really enjoy reading it? The fact that Spanish words are used throughout the book may increase its appeal to Spanish speakers and/or to people who enjoy languages. ( )

Accidental Love is full of humorous yet touching scenes between Marisa and her nerdy love interest Rene. The typical aspects of femininity and masculinity have been switched so that Marisa is coming to Rene’s rescue. However, the reader sees that under her hard exterior, Marisa still wants Rene to see her as beautiful and she is still hurt when Rene won’t stand up to his overbearing mother. This book is a quick, light-hearted read about a first love. I would recommend this book to middle school readers as well as high school readers. ( )

Not the type of book I typically like; but I found it a good read. Marisa sounds like a real high school student who is really finding out who she is. ( )

Marisa is a tough girl from a tough school, and isn't afraid to defend herself or her friends, even if that means getting into fistfights with boys. During one such fight with her best friend's cheating boyfriend, Marisa ends up accidentally switching cell phones with a boy who witnessed the fight. The boy, Rene, is unlike Marisa in almost every way. He is small and weak, he ignores insults rather than fighting over them, and he's unusually smart. Despite these differences, when Rene and Marisa meet to exchange cell phones, Marisa finds herself defending him against some bullies. Before long Marisa's life is turned upside down. She cares for a nerd more than she's ever cared for any other boy, she's transferred out of her dangerous high school into Rene's good school, and she's feeling better about herself than ever. While the book tells us a sweet and innocent love story, and it's peppered with Spanish phrases that might appeal to bilingual readers, the relationship between Marisa and Rene seems kind of sudden and at times it's hard to believe in. Rene's mother is also a kind of flat character, and I would have been interested to know more about her and her history. Nevertheless, for readers interested in a short, sweet love story, this book fits the bill. It's not life-changing, but it does have some important things to say about not changing who you are for anyone but yourself, and for trying to see what's inside of people rather than the image they present to the world. ( )