What's Happily Ever After, Anyway?

Michelle Taylor
Brown Barn Books (2005)
ISBN 0974648132
Reviewed by Susan Pettrone for Reader Views (1/07)

Miranda is awakened on the morning of her 16th birthday by her friend Tasha who informs her that she is going with her and her sister Carly to a concert that very night! Wildly excited about this fantastic turn of fate, Miranda doesn’t realize that the concert will put into play a series of events that will change her and her life forever. Meeting Keith, a handsome artistic soul whom she falls in love with, is just the beginning of many changes ahead for both Miranda and Keith.

To say that the story is all pink flowers and sweet talk would be misrepresenting the book. It is more than that. It is a book that has its romantic moments which each young girl likes to read, but it also is a book that puts into words the difficulties and choices a young teenage couple must make as their relationship grows ever closer. Miranda is no innocent by any means within this book, nor is she a worldly wise young woman either. What she is, is a typical teen, caught between youth and adulthood and who makes one bad choice which later causes her to make another harder one.

From the beginning of their relationship, Miranda and Keith, meet in a semi-secret way, not telling Miranda’s parents the whole truth about their meetings. Drawn into the plan for secrecy and innocent encounters is Mack, Miranda’s brother and Tasha who find that they do in fact have more in common than they originally thought. The contrast between the two budding couples is interesting to watch unfold as both pairs learn more about each other and decide how to proceed in their relationships. The choices are as different as the couples are and the choices they make are ones that form a basis for what is to come next in the book.

The choice Keith and Miranda make to finally have sex is a common one for young couples, and one that they tried to put off for as long as possible. But the choice they make to have unprotected sex is one they soon find themselves regretting, for it is obvious that after one brief encounter, Miranda is in fact pregnant.

How Miranda handles this news, who she tells and how she tells them is a real part of this book as is her relationship with not only Keith and Tasha, but her brother Mack who is by now, not only her brother but her confidant too in matters of the heart. What the future holds for these two couples, the hard decisions they must make and how they come about their choices is what makes this book a “must read” for young teens. It is within the pages of this book that common teen problems are addressed and solved which change their lives forever. It is the type of book which you wish you could “rewind” parts of the story and make other choices for the characters but which you know, like in real life, is impossible to do.

I would highly recommend “What’s Happily Ever After, Anyway?” for all young teens as it is well written, true to life and frank without coming off as “preachy.” It is a book that will cause the reader to take pause and evaluate choices made and how those choices can change forever their lives. In reading this book, the reader cannot help but think long and hard about choices they will face and the consequences of each choice they do make.

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