From Goodreads:  Meet Colin Preston.
19 years old and a student at Elerby University in upstate New York.
He drinks too much.
Lives for the Beatles, John Lennon and classic rock.
Falls for the most beautiful sophomore on campus.
His life is about to change forever.
Funny. Moving. Honest. Raw.
An entertaining coming of age novel about friendship,
music, first love and betrayal.

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This was a really interesting novel.  I wasn’t sure what to expect when I picked it up as the reviews of the novel have been mixed, but overall I liked it.  Colin has a lot of issues and, though I know he’s in college, I see these same issues budding in high school students, both male and female.  I had a hard time connecting with Colin on the music front, but I know a lot of people obsessed with music and I can see how it can be a saving grace for someone so confused and distraught.  They latch onto music, feel the pulse, and make an almost otherworldly connection with the beat and lyrics, which is what has happened to Colin.  Colin’s life hasn’t been easy and he becomes easily infatuated with Jasmine, a beautiful college student who loves sex (I say infatuation because I don’t believe there was ever any true love shown within the novel). 

Most books I read deal with a girls infatuation with a boy and her many different attempts to please him in order to keep him, but I’ve rarely read a novel in which the tables turn and a boy in infatuated with a girl to the same extent.  This was a refreshing take on an age old story of love, sex, and betrayal, and I enjoyed Colin’s voice very much, though I believe him to be psychotic.  Like I said before, I see infatuations in high school students all the time, and the drama that ensues when one dumps the other, or a “friend” comes into the picture… can “ruin” lives, and I honestly think Murray has captured the feelings of infatuation, betrayal, and even psychotic behavior very well.

As this novel takes place in the 1980s at a small University, it is not surprising that this novel is full of sex.  Colin and Jasmine have a relationship solely based on sex, and so readers should be aware that a majority of the novel deals with this in some way, shape, or form.  Hence, I wouldn’t recommend it for anyone under 18.  Three and a half stars.

I won a copy of this novel from Goodreads First Reads.