I love Jennifer Belle’s books, but this one didn’t quite live up to my expectations. I didn’t like the main character, and I was creeped out by the relationship with the older man. It’s still well-written and interesting.

Jennifer Belle opened my eyes when I was a teenager to the fact that fiction could be edgy and subversive. I read Going Down in my formative years and it made a HUGE impression. Swanna in Love is the story of a 14-year-old girl whose mother picks her up at camp with her new boyfriend and takes Swanna and her younger brother to an artists’ colony where no kids are allowed. I loved the characters and the 1982 background, but the married man/young girl relationship was too much for me. 3.5 stars

'swanna in love' follows a precocious, angsty & intelligent 14-year-old girl named swanna in the 80s. while her parents go thru their divorce and swanna's mom drags her thru some out-of-state shenanigans w/ her new bf, swanna meets a nearly 40-year-old married man and they begin to have an affair.

while this coming-of-age story was charming, honest & laugh-out-loud funny, I found the relationship to this adult man to be too creepy to look past. at first I was convinced the POINT was that he was a creepy loser, and that this would come to light and be acknowledged, but as I read on, it felt more like he was romanticized by young & impressionable swanna more than anything, and it was never fully (only sometimes, slightly) called out how gross and predatory he was, and how swanna was being groomed & SA'd. I usually don't have a hard time with subject matter like that but something about this just really didn't sit right with me and I was surprised to see that none of the other few reviewers touched on that, as it was a huge element of the story.

all in all, I'd give it a 3.5 rounded down to 3. it's relatable (sometimes painfully) and swanna is a lovable, confused and complicated teenage girl who I just wanted to hug and save from all the weird adults in her life.

I really enjoyed this book. It was very funny but also very moving. I think I fell in love with Swanna! I expected this to be somewhat salacious, like Lolita, but instead found it to be a very relatable coming-of-age story. I will definitely be recommending this book. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.