Affective Needs

by Rebecca Taylor

Ninety-two days. That’s all that’s left. Just ninety-two days and Ruth Robinson, calculus genius, will stand with her arms raised in a triumphant V as the valedictorian of Roosevelt High. With her early admit to Princeton’s Neuroscience program burning a hole in her pocket, Ruth can hardly wait to show her fellow teenage troglodytes that while she didn’t have followers, friends, or “times” in basements, she was the one ending up on top.

All she needs to do is white knuckle her way through this waiting place last semester and then, finally, she’ll be on her way. Except, the first day back from winter break, Porter Creed shows up. Porter is a special education transfer—Affective Needs. And just like all the other desk flippers and chair throwers in the affective needs classroom, Porter has some major emotional problems. But when Porter strolls onto Ruth’s home turf, Advanced Calculus, and disrupts her axis by being both gorgeous and the only person better at math than her—Ruth begins to realize that maybe life is what happens to you when you’re busy making other plans.

Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary

235 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 15, 2016

About the author

Rebecca Taylor is a licensed psychologist and author of bestselling women's psychological fiction. Her book The Secret Next Door was a bestselling title in Target stores throughout the USA, a #1 bestselling book on Amazon, and a Book of the Month selection on Apple Books. Her book Her Perfect Life was the winner of the Women's Fiction Writer's STAR award. Her previous titles have won the Colorado Book Award and been nominated for the RWA RITA award. She lives in Colorado but currently spends most of her time on airplanes, writing and traveling all over the world.

Learn more at:
www.rebeccataylorbooks.com
@RebeccaTaylorPage (Facebook)
@RebeccaTaylorBooks (Instagram)

Reviews

[Pamela Burdick · Rating 5 out of 5]

The characters in this book will be hard to forget. As the book went on, I had a hard time putting it down. I would love to see a book written as a prequel just about the male lead and his family. This author is definitely on the rise, her books just keep getting better and better, I look forward to what comes next.

[Jackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 This YA romance came across a bit differently than I was expecting, given the book's blurb. Super-smart high-school senior Ruth Robinson isn't motivated by competition, but by simple attraction, to Porter Creed, who arrives at her school mid-year. Ruth first spies Porter during a major meltdown outside the "Affective Needs" classroom (the room set aside for kids with emotional problems), as he's struggling in the arms of two police officers. Despite her prickly nature, Ruth is drawn to the boy who everyone else fears, and wants to know why a kid shunted off to Affective Needs could possibly also show up in her upper level Calculus class. When Ruth and Porter are assigned to be partners on a Calculus project (really? Math has really changed a lot since I was in high school if you work on projects, and with partners!), and Ruth confesses her attraction, the two begin an intense emotional and physical relationship, a relationship that often requires cutting class and skipping school, behavior that should be anathema to rule-bound Ruth. How long can she keep her relationship a secret from her mother, who also just happens to be the school psychologist?

Taylor is great at depicting the intensity of first love, as well as the ways that young lovers can avoid talking about the hard things out of worry of losing their beloved. Ruth's fascination with Porter was completely convincing, as was her careening on in her course of rule-breaking, even knowing that she was bound to get caught eventually. Readers might be frustrated with Ruth for refusing to think about just what it is that led Porter to Affective Needs; it's pretty obvious pretty early on. But it works in the context of teenage love being almost more focused on oneself and one's own feelings than on the feelings and needs of the person inspiring such overwhelming feelings in you.

Ruth's actions do not come without consequences, but none so tragic that we're left bereft. And being a romance, we do have a happy ending, although one that doesn't happen without some time apart during which both Ruth and Porter do some much-needed growing up.

[Drucilla · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was fine. It wasn't bad but it didn't blow me away either. The description makes a big deal of Porter's emotional problems and his genius level math skills, but both are hardly in the book. I was hoping we'd see more of Ruth trying to understand Porter's issues, but it really never seems to be a problem for their growing relationship. There are also a couple of times where a scene will, for lack of a better description, have a hard cut to the next one. Most of the time this makes sense but there is one instance where it completely torpedoes a perfect opportunity to see Ruth interact with her father. We're told by Ruth (and we do see it a bit later) that her father is a terrible person, but that would have been a great way for the reader to see that. More than that, I just really wanted to see that scene. Overall, the book isn't terrible, but instead is forgettable.

[Suelibevg · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was on a recommended list and I'm glad I took the time for this YA novel. I enjoyed the drama of a high school senior girl who is the daughter of the school counselor. She is just marking time till the end of the school year where she will address the class as valedictorian and go on to Princeton. Then she stumbles across Porter Creed. I like the message of how you see yourself is not necessarily how others see you. Both in a positive and negative way. Recommended.

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

[Lyliah]

I read a few reviews and it seems this is going to be a great book! Can't wait to read it.

[Nicole Vavoules · Rating 4 out of 5]

The beginning started off slow for me. I didn't understand Ruth's obsession with Porter. It felt a little forced at the start of the book. However, once getting into the story more I had forgotten about it and enjoyed the remainder of the book. The ending was disheartening for me. The two huge time jumps were slightly annoying, but not that awful. What I didn't like was that the only thing we saw in the two time hops were all about Porter and nothing much about Ruth's life. I don't like when scenes in the future are only placed to talk about one specific character and not the protagonist in general. But overall I really enjoyed this book!

[Krista · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an incredible book to read! Ruth and Porter's story is about stripping away the labels we put on others as well as ourselves within our lives and seeing what truly lies under neath. A must read!

[Andrea Romero · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it

The author has an amazing ability to write characters that you can connect with,picture,and understand. One of the best things I loved about this book was that there wasn't a happily ever after immediate resolution....Loved it.

[P.M. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was disappointed in it. I didn't like Ruth; her fascination with Porter seemed contrived to me. I was also wary of her mother's flirtation with compromising the FERPA rules.

[Jonesy_laaa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Lucky to get that. Badly written. Didn't understand it. Don't bother.