By the authors of The Nanny Diaries, Dedication is the story of Katie and Jake, who used to be high school sweethearts. Now in their 30s, Kate has spent her entire adult life listening to Jake sing about their relationship and break-up over the airwaves. Jake is back in their hometown for the holidays and Kate rushes home to confront him about it all.
The story is told in alternating chapters from the present and their past. It starts in 7th grade and ends at prom- when Jake vanished without a word until they heard him singing about Katie on the radio. Jake has taken advantage of their friends and written about every ugly secret they ever had in high school. I really enjoyed the parts from high school. Jake was a jerk… or was he? Some of what he did was explained… maybe. The chapters about the current day were much less satisfying. One interesting thing is that the characters are about the same age I am, so the flashbacks to high school felt pretty familiar. The clothing, the makeup, the trends- all that was pretty amusing. I don’t want to give away how it ends, but I was a bit disappointed in the very end. I’m not sure if there were a skillful buildup to the end or if it’s a bit of a cop out. I can’t decide if the story actually works or not. It was an entertaining book but it won’t go on my top ten.
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