'Fifteen Love' by Robert Corbet wound up being a better read than I felt it would be early on when I started it. The beginning of the book fell a bit flat for me. I didn't feel that the relationship between Mia and Will was explored fully enough. It was clear that they knew each other at the beginning of the book, but as they started to get closer and decide to go out, it seemed too quick, as though they should have gotten to know a bit about each other before just deciding to go out. That may just be me and my idea of what traditional dating should be like, but I would have liked more development in their relationship early on. As the novel progressed, however, I did enjoy the give and take between them, but until that really started to occur, more so at about 2/3 of the way into the book, in my estimation, it was a slow read for me. The last third of the book read much more quickly. It delved into not only Mia and Will's relationship, but Mia's relationship with her parents - especially her semi-estranged father - and Will's relationship with his family - most specifically with his wheelchair-bound brother, Dave.
I liked the play on words that the title gave off - fifteen love being a score in tennis, which is the sport that Will plays, and being the age that the two main characters are as they try to figure out how they feel about each other and everyone else around them. I also enjoyed the metaphors that graced the last third of the novel, especially. That made the book all that much more appealing to me in the end. Mia plays the viola, so when Will goes to one of her concerts, he talks about what he pictures and feels as he listens to the music, and it brought the whole book, and everything that had happened between Mia and Will throughout the book, into much greater perspective. When Mia was getting ready for this same concert, she says a line that reads, "I realize, with tears streaming down my cheeks, that no two violas can ever be the same." I felt this was a testament to the struggles Mia had been facing with her parents, with Will, with her best friends Vanessa and Renata, and with others throughout the story. Basically, nothing can ever be the same, and the teenage years are when this is more fully realized.
Even though it took me a while to get into it, I think it is worth reading this book to take away some life lessons and find value in how metaphors can shape our lives and make us think more critically about ourselves and how we interact with others and with life in general.
Beth Rodgers, Author of YA Novel 'Freshman Fourteen'