Sara is practicing creative visualization to achieve her goals during senior year; Tobey is practicing in his garage band. Sara imagines her ideal boyfriend as the popular Dave; Tobey considers giving up his slacker ways to win over Sara. In alternating voices, the teens realize that meaningless hook-ups leave them wanting "something real," which they find in each other. Although they seem to be soul mates, Sara and Tobey must overcome jealousy, lies and past sexual encounters with a maturity (and a nod to a popular '80s movie) well beyond most adolescents. Helping them along the way are sympathetic teachers, parents and friends. Realistic dialogue, multi-layered characters, musical references and issues that matter most to teens make this story happen. Like Sarah Dessen, Colasanti knows how teens operate.

- Kirkus Reviews

Sara is searching for something real. It's the start of senior year, and the brainy and beautiful teen is determined that this will be the year she finds "it" – that elusive little thing called love. She's been crushing all summer on Dave, who asked for her phone number at the end of junior year. She's been waiting for his call for months, stressing about her search not for just any boyfriend but the one who truly gets her, understands that she must make it into New York University, grasps the whacked-out relationship she has with her mom. She's got all her hopes wrapped up in Dave, not knowing that Tobey – the slacker guy from art class who seems to care only about his band – has spent countless hours crafting a plan to win her over.

So it goes in When It Happens , Susane Colasanti's debut novel, which successfully captures the angst and exhilaration that come with new love. Colasanti's tale unfolds in a "she said/he said" style, with chapters that tell the story from the viewpoint of each main character. Two sets of typefaces – one for Sara's side, another for Tobey's – make it easy to track who's talking.

That Colasanti, a public high school teacher in New York City, gets what high school is like is evident. Film and music references are sprinkled throughout her text, from Sara's favorite movie ( Say Anything… ) to a band (R.E.M.) she's heard of but never listened to until Tobey. Mentions of drugs, sex, eating disorders and the social pressures teens face aren't overdone, and the dialogue is breezy and realistic (including a few gratuitous f-bombs and a URL to a porn site). Even Colasanti's description about getting dressed for gym is legit: "First I sniff the shirt that's in my locker to make sure it doesn't smell too bad. Even if it does, I still have to wear it. But then I know not to stand too close to anyone."

Colasanti obviously remembers the kind of love that makes your insides churn, belly flips and all. Her take on young romance is insightful, fresh and fun, her characters fully formed and likable. Knowing how the book will end hardly matters, for When It Happens is sort of like high school itself: The outcome may be predictable, but what's really important is what happens along the way.

- Debra Leithauser, editor of The Post's Sunday Source, The Washington Post

Sara and Tobey both have goals as they enter their senior year of high school. Sara's is to make gorgeous new guy Dave her boyfriend. Tobey's is to make Sara his girlfriend. Both are looking for something deeper than the usual teen dating, and they are each surrounded with friends freely offering advice on how to reach their goals. Sara is convinced that Dave is perfect for her just as Tobey knows that Sara is "the one" for him. Sara attains her goal first only to find that Dave – a member of the popular group – is not what she thought he would be. As friends, Sara and Tobey draw closer and see each other with new eyes. Written in alternating voices, the book allows readers into the thoughts of both characters. They are sympathetic and teen readers will like them and want them to find each other. Tobey seems to be the deeper of the two and undergoes the most change as a result of the new relationship. Teen readers will enjoy the dynamics of Sara and Tobey and their friends and identify with their bantering. It is a fully satisfying story that will please young adult readers looking for a little romance.

- VOYA, 4Q 4P S (Better than most, marred only by occasional lapses; Broad general YA appeal; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12)

In the first chapter, readers find out that Sara is entering her senior year hoping that she'll find "true love." She is encouraged when Dave asks her out. He is part of the in crowd, and she begins to hang out with his friends, at the expense of her relationships with her girlfriends. Next, readers hear from Tobey. He has slept with a couple of girls, but is uncomfortable with that kind of relationship. He thinks Sara is his "real thing," and he asks her friend Laila to help him win her over. Tobey and Sara become partners in music class and find they have much in common. Dave, on the other hand, is a disappointment to her. When he pressures Sara to sleep with him, she finally realizes that she confused her attraction to his good looks and connections with honest feelings. Through alternating chapters, readers get the perspectives of Tobey and Sara about their developing relationship. The easy style of the writing reflects how teens speak, and some of the characters' language is realistically gritty. This is a fun romance with lots of dialogue that, due to the many popular-culture references, will become dated quickly.

- School Library Journal

After he asked for her phone number at the end of her junior year, Sara waited for Dave to call all summer long. Now that their senior year is beginning, Sara has made love her priority. She only hopes it is with Dave! At the same time, her classmate Tobey has set his eye on Sara. But how will slacker musician Tobey ever have a chance with the attractive class brain when popular jock Dave moves in on her from day one? Will Sara be as happy with Dave as she always expected she would be? Will Tobey's plans help him to win her interest? This hefty 300-plus-page book covers the entirety of the school year and explores the excitement of sexual awakening. Told in alternating first-person entries by Sara and Tobey, Susane Colasanti's novel is sure to appeal to teen fans of The O.C. and Everwood .

- Children's Literature

In Colasanti's sweet debut, an unlikely pair of high school seniors fall for each other, and learn to handle the ups and downs that come with love. At the start of the book, overachiever Sara starts dating popular Dave, mainly because "after being a nobody for so long, it feels awesome to be a somebody." But when she gets paired up with smart slacker musician Tobey, they instantly connect and Sara realizes true love is "finally happening." Told through the couple's alternating perspectives, the story realistically captures the thrill of first love (Sara realizes that "When I'm with Tobey, an hour seems like a second"). After finding each other, Sara and Tobey must deal with jealous exes as well as their futures (Tobey learns to study, hoping to go to the Manhattan Music Academy and be near Sara at NYU). Readers may find the plot somewhat thin, and secondary story lines remain underdeveloped (e.g., Sara's strained relationship with her mother, who was 16 when Sara was born; her friend Maggie's struggles to deal with her parents' divorce). But the book emulates the feeling that everything but the budding romance slips to the background. Even the delectably hokey scene in which Tobey wins Sara back by standing under her window, holding up his boom box over his head (like John Cusack in her favorite scene from Say Anything… ) is sure to make readers smile.

- Publishers Weekly

Honor-student Sara is hoping that senior year will bring her a relationship with Dave, a handsome basketball player, and she's thrilled when her wishes come true. Her classmate Tobey, who alternates narration with Sara, is not at all thrilled since he knows what a jerk Dave really is and he himself has fallen heard over heels for Sara, but he's sure she won't look at a C-average guy whose focus is his band. As the weeks go by, however, Sara realizes that Dave isn't right for her, and that she has a real connection with Tobey; soon she has moved on from Dave to Tobey and finds herself in her first serious relationship, with the attendant challenges of her first sexual experience and decisions about post-graduation plans. This is a sweet and touching love story, and Sara in particular is a sympathetic character, with her desire for love and willingness to step outside her usual preplanning and take a chance; it's also nice to see the benefits of a good relationship credibly portrayed (in order to create a future where he can be near Sara, Tobey pulls his schoolwork together and starts getting good grades.) Romantic readers may still enjoy the story of a true and meaningful connection between souls that transcends the social strictures of high school.

- The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books