{"product_id":"real-live-boyfriends-isbn-9780385734295","title":"Real Live Boyfriends","description":"\u003cp\u003eFrom E. Lockhart, author of the highly acclaimed, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestseller \u003ci\u003eWe Were Liars, \u003c\/i\u003ewhich John Green called \"utterly unforgettable,\" comes \u003ci\u003eReal Live Boyfriends\u003c\/i\u003e, the fourth book in the uproarious and heartwarming Ruby Oliver novels\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003ethat\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003efinds Ruby Oliver as neurotic and hyperverbal as ever as she interviews her friends for a documentary on love and popularity and while doing so turns up some uncomfortable truths.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe’s lost most of her friends. She’s lost her true love more than once. She’s lost her grandmother, her job, her reputation, and possibly her mind. But she’s never lost her sense of humor. The Ruby Oliver books are the record of her survival.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cu\u003ePraise for \u003ci\u003ereal live boyfriends\u003c\/i\u003e:\u003c\/u\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “Fans will enthusiastically embrace this hilarious novel.”—\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e“Wryly comic lists, footnotes, and narration lay Ruby Oliver’s heart  bare and construct a vulnerable, sympathetic character with whom many  teens will relate.”—\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Fans of the series will clamor for Ruby’s latest adventure.”—\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A Junior Library Guild Selection\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e An ALA-YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults Book\u003cp\u003eE. Lockhart is the author of the highly acclaimed \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestseller \u003ci\u003eWe Were Liars \u003c\/i\u003eand the Ruby Oliver quartet (\u003ci\u003eThe\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eBoyfriend List, The Boy Book, The Treasure Map of Boys,\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eReal Live Boyfriends\u003c\/i\u003e), as well as \u003ci\u003eFly\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eon the Wall, Dramarama,\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eHow to Be Bad\u003c\/i\u003e (the last with Sarah Mlynowski and Lauren Myracle). Her novel \u003ci\u003eThe Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks\u003c\/i\u003e was a Michael L. Printz Award Honor Book, a finalist for the National Book Award, and winner of a Cybils Award for Best Young Adult Novel. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.\u003c\/p\u003e1. Real Live Boyfriends!     \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA definition:   \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA real live boyfriend does not contribute to your angst.   \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYou do not wonder if he will call.  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYou do not wonder whether he will kiss you.   \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd he does not look at his phone while you are talking, to see if anyone has texted him.   \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOf course he calls. He's your boyfriend!   \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOf course there will be kissing. He's your boyfriend!   \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd of course he listens. He's your real live boyfriend!   \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYou can sit down next to him at lunch whenever you want. There's no need for mental gyrations such as: Will he want me there when he's hanging with his friends? Or will he half ignore me in order to seem golden in front of them?   \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOf course you can sit with him. He's your boyfriend!   You can assume you'll see him on the weekend. You can call him just to chat. You can expect he'll be nice to your friends.   \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eContrary to some rumors, however, you don't have to be in love. You don't have to engage in any horizontal action beyond what you're in the mood for. You don't even need to stay together after high school. But you have to like him and he has to like you--and everyone has to know you're together.   He's your real live boyfriend!         \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e2.     The Insanity of My Parents! And Romance!     \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom seventh grade to ninth, I had a real live boyfriend named Tommy Hazard.   \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTommy was perfect. He had clear skin, he was never obnoxious in class, and he was excellent at sports. He had beautiful strong shoulders and a secret mysterious smile. Tall but not too tall. Great teeth. Smoldering eyes.   \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn fact, he was superhot and could have any girl he wanted. And the best thing was--he went weak whenever he saw me.   \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe was also imaginary.   \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI told my best friend, Kim, all about him. He changed according to my mood. Sometimes he was a surfer boy in board shorts and a bead choker, tossing the water out of his hair as he smiled down at me. Sometimes he was a skate punk. Other times a mod guy in a narrow tie who took beautiful black-and-white photographs.   \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThen I started going out with Jackson Clarke, sophomore year, and Tommy Hazard disappeared--I guess because I finally had a real live boyfriend with a real live heart pumping in his chest.   \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOnly--then it turned out he didn't.   \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHave a heart.   \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd he didn't want to be my real live boyfriend anymore--   \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe wanted to be Kim's.       \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFlash to end of junior year.   \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen I wrote the above definition of a real live boyfriend, it was fourteen months since Kim and Jackson got together and shattered my heart, plunging me into an abyss of bad mental health. I wrote it sitting in the B\u0026amp;O Espresso, where Meghan and I were supposed to be studying for finals. We were hopped up on dobosh torte and coffee drinks, and I couldn't think any more about chemistry formulas.   \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI flipped to a new page in my notebook and wrote something else, just to give myself a break.   \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMeghan crinkled her sexy little freckled nose when she read it. \"What do you mean, real live boyfriend?\"  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"Exactly what I wrote.\"   \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"But--\" Meghan looked perplexed.   \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"What?\"   \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Isn't this just what a boyfriend is?\" she asked. \"Any boyfriend?\"   \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJust to be clear, Meghan has had a pretty much continuous cycle of serious boyfriends since seventh grade. Me, I had been in the state of Noboyfriend since April of sophomore year, when the Kim\/Jackson debacle made me pretty much dysfunctional.   \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd while you could argue that Meghan's male-oriented outlook on life was all about the fact that her dad died when she was twelve and that's why she's the only other teenager I know who sees a shrink on a regular basis, there was no denying that she was being truthful when she said she didn't know what I was writing about. She and her boyfriend, Finn, who was making espresso behind the counter at the B\u0026amp;O right that very minute, got together just before Spring Fling junior year and were as real and live as real and live could be. And before Finn, Meghan had been real and live with Bick.   \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd before Bick, with a guy she met at camp.   \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd before that, with Chet, who moved away.   \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd before that--you get the idea.   \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMeghan didn't know much about how it felt to wonder if a guy still liked you. She didn't know about half-boyfriends and awkwardness and partial breakups and all that human weirdness--partly, yes, because she is one of the most oblivious people I've ever met and really might not know human weirdness if it bit her, but also because she somehow knows how to connect with boys. Not like they're Neanderthals or wildebeests or aliens or pod-robots, but like they're normal human beings.   \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhich obviously they are.   \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOnly, it is extremely hard to tell sometimes.","brand":"Ember","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46300911829221,"sku":"NP9780385734295","price":14.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780385734295.jpg?v=1767735474","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/real-live-boyfriends-isbn-9780385734295","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}