I Think I Love You-Allison Pearson

I Think I Love You
Allison Pearson
Kopf, Feb 14 2011, $24.95
ISBN: 9781400042357

In 1974 in Wales, thirteen years old Petra doesn’t just think she knows she loves TV and rock star David Cassidy. Petra competed in the Ultimate David Cassidy Quiz contest but assumes she lost when she never heard from the sponsors. She and her best friend Sharon sneak off to London to hear Cassidy perform. In London, Petra meets Bill, author of The Essential David Cassidy Magazine.

In 1998, Petra is in a troubled marriage with a teenage daughter. When her mother dies, Petra finds proof that she won that contest twenty-five years ago with the prize being a trip to California. She contacts the magazine who invites her to Vegas to meet Cassidy. Petra and Sharon travel to Nevada where they meet Bill, a reporter covering the story for the magazine.

The insightful story line rotates between Petra and Bill as each along with Sharon sees Cassidy from a relatively different perspective back in the Partridge days and in the “present”. Character driven, fans will enjoy the profound look at hero adulation especially the diverse range between a teen fantasy to an adult reality. Although the teenybopper era is a bit slow, readers will hum "C'mon Get Happy"; as “Believe me, you really don't have to worry” (from I Think I Love You) because this is an enjoyable contemporary tale.

Harriet Klausner