For fans of Sarah Dessen and John Green, this is a breathtaking debut about a couple who fall in love...twice. Before: Reena Montero has loved Sawyer LeGrande for as long as she can remember. But he's never noticed that Reena even exists...until one day, impossibly, he does. Reena and Sawyer fall in messy, complicated love. Then Sawyer disappears without a word, leaving a devastated—and pregnant—Reena behind. After: Almost three years have passed, and there's a new love in Reena's life: her daughter. Reena's gotten used to life without Sawyer, but just as suddenly as he disappeared, he turns up again. Reena wants nothing to do with him, though she'd be lying if she said his being back wasn't stirring something in her. After everything that's happened, can Reena really let herself love Sawyer LeGrande again? The Official How to Love Playlist By Katie Cotugno From Joni Mitchell to Leann Rimes to Te Vaka, I listened to all of it while I wrote this book. Songs that fit the story, songs I thought Sawyer and Reena might like, songs that just plain gave me a lot of Big Feelings. Here are a few that are still in heavy rotation: 1. “Down in the Valley” by the Head and the Heart Live music plays such an important role in How to Love , and the Head and the Heart puts on maybe the best live show I’ve ever seen. This track in particular is such a Sawyer song to me. 2. “You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go” by Bob Dylan, performed by Miley Cyrus This is a Bob Dylan song, but I have to say that Miley’s version is my very fave. “You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome” is a song about knowing you’re going to get left behind and not being able to do a single thing to stop it. 3. “So Far Around the Bend” by the National I mean, if “I know you’re a serious lady” isn’t a perfect description of Reena, I don’t know what is. 4. “I Dream of Chicago” by Parlours This one’s a traveling song, and a beautiful one. 5. “Reunion” by Indigo Girls “Reunion” always makes me think of Reena’s relationship with her family—both the Monteros and the LeGrandes—especially the lines “I have no need for anger with intimate strangers/I have nothing to hide.” 6. “Poison and Wine” by the Civil Wars This one’s about a good/bad love affair, and it aches. 7. “Bring It on Home to Me” by Sam Cooke, performed by Tony Lucca This song is actually mentioned by name in the book. It’s a Sam Cooke song, but the Tony Lucca cover is the sexiest. It’s just science. 8. “All This and Heaven Too” by Florence and the Machine In my head, “All This and Heaven Too” is Reena’s theme song. To me, at least, it’s about a smart girl trying to figure out, you know—how to love. Gr 9 Up–Sawyer LaGrande's unexplained disappearance rocked Serena Montero's world. It was love at first sight, and then he ran away and left her pregnant. Now he's back in town and ready to pick up where they left off. Serena, however, has a steady boyfriend and is now the mother of a two-year-old. She had to repair her broken heart and make peace with her very Catholic father, who does not approve of her out-of-wedlock child. She is older and wiser, but Sawyer was the love of her life. Will she make the same mistake twice? The language and content of this novel will appeal to teens, but the structure is an issue. Every other chapter is a flashback, making the plot seem choppy and disjointed. The portrayal of a Catholic Hispanic family in modern-day Florida is refreshing, but the shuffling between the present and the past may make it hard for readers to lose themselves in the characters. The story's mood is rather depressing; Serena deals with the death of her mother, the death of her best friend, Sawyer's abandonment, her child, her family's disapproval, and her father's heart attack. Yet, despite her struggles, she is still able to find her silver lining at the end of the story. How to Love may not appeal to a wide audience, but patrons who read and enjoyed Jamie McGuire's Beautiful Disaster (S & S, 2012) will find Sawyer and Serena's frustrating relationship familiar.–Jeni Tahaney, Duncanville High School Library, TXα(c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. The before: responsible 16-year-old Reena pushes to graduate from high school early so that she can get the hell out of Florida and attend Northwestern. But Sawyer LeGrande, a boy who has been in Reena’s life forever—and who she has loved forever—finally notices her. After a few months of dating, troubled Sawyer disappears and Reena discovers she is pregnant. The after: Sawyer returns after several years away, and it turns out he still stirs something in Reena that can’t be ignored. The “Before” and “After” chapters alternate and can be summed up by the following: “I didn’t understand what I had with Sawyer: I couldn’t figure out how he could make me so happy and so miserable all at once.” Cotugno’s debut ambitiously, and intriguingly, follows a couple who fall in love twice,