I Think I Love You, Allison Pearson
I Think I Love You, Allison Pearson
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I Think I Love You

Author: Allison Pearson

Narrator: Sian Thomas

Unabridged: 12 hr 19 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 02/08/2011


Synopsis

The new novel from the best-selling author of I Don’t Know How She Does It takes us on an unforgettable journey into first love, and—with the emotional intensity and penetrating wit that have made her beloved among readers all over the world—reminds us of how the ardor of our youth can ignite our adult lives.

Wales, 1974. Petra and Sharon, two thirteen-year-old girls, are obsessed with David Cassidy. His fan magazine is their Bible, and some days his letters are the only things that keep them going as they struggle through the humiliating daily rituals of adolescence—confronting their bewildering new bodies, fighting with mothers who don’t understand them at all. Together they tackle the Ultimate David Cassidy Quiz, a contest whose winners will be flown to America to meet Cassidy in person.

London, 1998. Petra is pushing forty, on the brink of divorce, and fighting with her own thirteen-year-old daughter when she discovers a dusty letter in her mother’s closet declaring her the winner of the contest she and Sharon had labored over with such hope and determination. More than twenty years later, twenty pounds heavier, bruised by grief and the disappointments of middle age, Petra reunites with Sharon for an all-expenses-paid trip to Las Vegas to meet their teen idol at last, and finds her life utterly transformed.

Funny, moving, full of beautiful observations about the awakenings of both youth and middle age, Allison Pearson’s long-awaited new novel will speak across generations to mothers and daughters and women of all ages.

Permissions Acknowledgments
 
Lyrics from "Daydreamer" used with kind permission of the composer Terry Dempsey and publisher Angela Music Publishing Co. (Pty) Ltd.; "I Think I Love You" words and music by Tony Romeo © 1970. Reproduced by permission of Screen-Gems EMI Music Inc., London W8 5SW; "Cherish" words and music by Terry Kirkman © 1965. Reproduced by permission of Beechwood Music Corporation, London W8 5SW; "How Can I Be Sure" words and music by Edward J. Brigati and Felix Cavaliere © 1967. Reproduced by permission of EMI Entertainment World Inc., London W8 5SW; "(I Never Promised You A) Rose Garden" © 1971 Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC. All rights administered by Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC. All rights reserved. Used by permission. Extract from Four Quartets by T. S. Eliot © the Estate of T. S. Eliot, reproduced by permission of Faber and Faber Ltd.

About The Author

Allison Pearson, an award-winning journalist and author, is a staff writer for the London Daily Telegraph. Her first novel, I Don’t Know How She Does It, became an international best seller and was translated into thirty-two languages. She is a patron of Camfed, a charity that supports the education of thousands of African girls. Pearson lives in Cambridge with her husband and their two children.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Cathy

I listened to this on audio CD, which provided the wonderful Welsh and British accents that really enriched the story. The first half of the book describes the extreme crushes on then-teen-idol-David-Cassidy held by a 1970s Welsh teenage girl, Petra, and her friends. By turns humorous and bittersweet......more

Goodreads review by Jessica

I really liked this mainly because I could relate to Petra and Sharon. Like them, I had unhealthy infatuations with celebrities who have no idea I exist. In fact, I still have these obsessions (I’m still waiting for Tim Lincecum to marry me). As for the storyline, I liked how it included the perspec......more

Before I talk about Allison Pearson’s delightful novel, I Think I Love You, I have to talk about David Cassidy. I think it’s important for you to understand my total predisposition to love this book based on my adolescent feelings about David. I LOVED HIM! Oh, I know I wasn’t alone – millions of gir......more

Goodreads review by Michael

It's 1974 and Petra and her friends are all "in love" with singer David Cassidy. Petra is the ultimate Cassidy fan, making collages of pictures of the singer, subscribing to his fan magazine and knowing all there is to know about David. Petra hopes that someday all this knowledge may come in useful......more


Quotes

“A delightful, giddy novel. . . . [Pearson] finds those universal chords, the stuff of great novels.” —Los Angeles Times 
 
“What I Don't Know How She Does It did for working mothers, I Think I Love You does for every woman who’s gone through life with an idealized notion of love. . . . An entertaining, thoughtful story that women of any age can relate to.” —The Oregonian 
 
“It was impossible not to be captivated by this romantic comedy.” —Chicago Tribune
 
“Pearson writes with such humor and affection for her characters. . . . Combines effervescence with earnestness, a finely tuned sense of absurdity with nostalgia, satiric wit with genuine warmth.” —The New York Times 
 
“Anyone who ever swooned over the pages of Teen Beat will delight in the premise of I Think I Love You. . . . Offers comedic relief of the highest order.” —The Minneapolis Star-Tribune
 
“[A] funny, tender novel about first love—and whether we ever really grow out of it.” —O, The Oprah Magazine
 
“Pearson renders teenagedom with authenticity and poignancy. . . . Lovely.”—The Washington Post
 
“An absolute hoot. . . . Another gem.” —Newsweek
 
I Think I Love You will have special resonance for baby boomers who experienced the early 1970s as young teens. . . . But Pearson’s empathetic portrait of Petra transcends the era, as does Petra’s tender recollection of her first, unobtainable love.” —The Wall Street Journal
 
“Pearson grabs 1970s nostalgia by its weepy, pop-culture heartstrings in I Think I Love You, an homage to teen crushes. . . . Sweetly told.” —USA Today
 
“[Petra] is the beating heart of the story, quick with nostalgic references and the bewitching, heartbroken thrills that come close to the urgency of first love.” —The Daily Beast
 
“Capture[s] the heady intensity of a teenage crush. . . . If you were a David Cassidy fan yourself, you may find that the book is enough to fuel a trip down memory lane.” —The Boston Globe
 
“Pitch-perfect. . . . Insightful, funny. . . . A tasty and surprising stew. . . . Hits the right notes.” —The Plain Dealer
 
If you’ve ever been a teenage girl, you know exactly how the desperation feels and maybe understand why it was so hard for me at the age of 48 to restrain myself when Cassidy walked by. If you don’t understand the phenomenon, read Pearson’s book for some entertaining insight.” —Catherine Mallette, The Dallas Fort Worth Star-Telegram 
 
“Petra has a piercing wit and a boundless charm, but it’s Pearson’s insights into friendship, celebrity worship from the inside out, and the knocks you take in life that create a winning novel of hope, lost and found.” —Publisher’s Weekly
 
“Read this if you remember plastering your walls with your idol’s posters, singing along with the radio or screaming at a concert. . . . Whimsically sweet.” —Newark Star-Ledger
 
“Flawless and funny. . . . Manages to inhabit the tricky territory of the adolescent mind so convincingly that you can almost hear your own teenage self speaking.” —The Daily Telegraph (London)
 
“Too young to have saved your Friday nights for The Partridge Family? You’ll still enjoy this insightful story about how our youthful passions shape who we become.” —People
 
“[A] deceptively sparkly book. . . . Does for the pop crush what Nick Hornby has done for football and vinyl, but Pearson, the voice of a generation of frazzled women who think perfection is within their grasp, has added something extra to the mix.” —The Sunday Times (London)
 
“Charming.” —The New York Post
 
“Reading this book made me remember what it was like to be in love. . . . This book is about big things—friendship, motherhood, love, loss—seen through the prism of smoke from a joss stick, set to jingly jangly music that still makes the hair on the back of the neck stand up.” —Liz Jones, Evening Standard (London)
 
“Pearson knows how to capture emotion, from adolescent infatuation to grownup devastation.” —The Miami Herald
 
I Think I Love You . . . delves deeply into celebrity obsession, adolescence and motherhood. . . . Anyone who has ever loved a celebrity they’ve never met will appreciate this book.” —Bookreporter.com