When September Returns

Greta & Joanne

by McClure Jones, Phoebe Matthews

When September Returns is classic Matthews. First published by Silhouette under pseudonym McClure Jones, it was #1 on the national BDalton Bestseller list.

“Maybe you ought to go out with other guys,” Joanne’s friends all told her. But she couldn’t. She had fallen for Tim...Tim with his blond hair and crooked smile, Tim who called her Gorgeous. She knew that she had another year of high school and Tim was a senior in college. She knew he dated other girls during the week. But she was his Saturday date. She was special to him.

Genres: Young Adult

Kindle Edition

First published September 1, 1982

About the author

McClure Jones is a pseudonym of Phoebe Matthews.

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a middled aged woman. I read When September Returns when I was 12 or 13 more times than I can count. It was a cheesy teenage romance, but I loved it. And I thought that college was going to be Just. Like. This. Book. Impromptu co-ed soccer games in the mud on an autumn day, dorm parties with drunken hopscotch in the hallways, debates about intellectual pursuits, and bars where everyone put their arms around each other and sang.

Reality turned out a bit different, but when I learned there was a Kindle version available, I HAD to read it. I expected I would read it and cringe at how trite and awful it was. I expected that my memories of the bittersweet ending would ring hollow. I was wrong.

I am a middle aged woman, and I love this book. Yes, it is not literature. Yes, some of the things the girls think about men and love are appalling to the adult me. Yes, some of the ways they tried to update the Kindle edition (someone gets a laptop for Christmas that originally must have been a typewriter; the main character provides some lame excuse as to why she's hanging around the house waiting for a land line to ring) fall flat. But this is a bittersweet tale that still tugs my heart.

[antropy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my absolute favorite book when I was in junior high school. I carted this thing around with me until it drowned when my garage flooded during the 2004 hurricane season.

It's available on Kindle! I just bought it! I never forgot this book, never. I bought some Frazetta posters because of this. I can still recite the poem. But I won't, because it's a spoiler. I can still remember feeling my heart break right along with the heroine's.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Going back to some old First Love from Silhouette 80's teen romances I have from when I was 12. Decided to re-read them to see if I enjoyed them as much now as I did then. Some I still loved just as much, some were just so so. But it was fun to flashback and relive parts of my youth. Ah, the nostalgia of it all. :)

[Minda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book in junior high in the 80s -- over and over again. I loved this book then! I remember checking it out from the school library and eventually finding my own copy. Maybe this is why I constantly crushed on unattainable guys. Damn you, perfect boy Tim in this book!

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my favorite book in middle school - one of the first books I read over and over.

[Reading with Cats · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked Joanne, despite her stalkerish tendencies, but I wish she had gotten a stronger, less BOY!-centric ending. Greta was just creepy and disturbing, though.
3.5 stars

[MD · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this in high school and loved it.

[Jennifer Klenz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one of the few books I read that gave me some idea what it was like at university in the states. Being Canadian I already knew that we weren't big on sororities, fraternities and we didn't talk about sophomores, juniors and seniors much. I really enjoyed this book although I thought Tim, the love interest was a git. I think I enjoyed the atmosphere of this book more than the actual romance.

The other books I read about being at university (before I actually went there) were: "Tell me if lovers are losers" by Cynthia Voigt and Tam Lin by Pamela Dean. I must love academia because I never left. I am on the other side of the desk now.

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Many years ago, this was my first romance novel. I have read them ever since. At the time it really spoke to me as I was dating a college boy while I was still in high school. The story was realistic. Great first love...

[Hrtnsoul28 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book in my teens and still remember how amazing it was. How heartbreaking when she discovered Tim was in love with someone else. The other girl was in love and getting engaged to someone else too. It was such a lovely story of first love.

[Christina Reeder · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was an o.k. story though at some times it felt like Joanne was younger than 17. Maybe that's just me. But still an o.k. read

[Gale · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read in 2006.