You meets To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before in this twisted, tragic love story that follows Holy Family High School’s cutest couple—as told through the eyes of the classmate who’s stalking them.
Laney Villanueva and Nico Fiore are the perfect couple: beautiful, popular, talented, and hopelessly in love. Everyone looks up to them at Holy Family High School.
Intent on becoming their closest friend, Rafi weaves her way into their lives. She starts small: taking photos of the senior class for the yearbook, joining Laney’s club, and babysitting Nico's little sister. And it works—soon they invite her to parties, take her on joyrides, and ask her for favors. Rafi’s actions quickly turn invasive, delving deeper and deeper until she’s consumed by their most intimate secrets.
When tragedy strikes the young lovers, Rafi’s obsession spirals, and she will do anything to keep the perfect couple together. Anything . . .
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Gr 9 Up-Peñaflor tells a tragic love story about a popular and beautiful Filipino couple, Laney Villanueva and Nico Fiore, who attend Holy Family High School. She does this through the perspective of Rafi, a sophomore girl who attends the same school and is dangerously obsessed with the couple. Rafi finds ways to insert herself into their lives (joining Laney's club, babysitting Nico's little sister, etc.) while fantasizing and stalking them, but when tragedy strikes the couple, she will do anything to keep them together. Rafi's personality is very disturbing and creepy as the title suggests, and it's clear that she suffers from severe mental illness that stems from childhood. Readers know that she feels guilt and abandonment surrounding her parents, but the plot lacks more of a back story on the subject. The author's writing is quick-paced and suspenseful, making it a very easy read, but the climax leads up to an abrupt ending that falls a bit flat, leaving readers with some unanswered questions. Students at the school are predominantly Filipino, with some Black, Latino, and mixed race students as well. VERDICT Recommended for teens who enjoy the obsessive love Netflix series You (based on the books by Caroline Kepnes).-Lacey Webster?(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.