The Year Nick McGowan
Came to Stay
by Rebecca Sparrow

    THE YEAR NICK MCGOWAN CAME TO STAY by Rebecca Sparrow
    Category:  Contemporary
    Age Recommendation:  Grades 9+
    Release Date:  4/8/08
    Publisher:  Knopf
    Reviewed by:  Randstostipher "tallnlankyrn" Nguyen
    Rating:  4 Stars


    What’s worse then waking up, having morning breath, and looking your worst? Having the hottest guy in school
    see you every morning when you just woke up, looking your worst. Rachel Hill has experienced this firsthand, and
    it is all because of her parents and their kindheartedness.

    Nick McGowan (a.k.a. the hottest and most popular guy, a.k.a. every girl’s eye candy), has become somewhat of
    a troublemaker. No one really understands why, but of course rumors take care of that. Most of them evolve
    around drugs. The school’s PTA calls a little meeting and, in no time, Rachel’s parents agree to let him stay with
    them, since he does need a little guidance. Of course, Rachel isn’t too happy about this, since not only is she not
    the prettiest or most popular girl in school, but she doesn’t want him to see how dorky her life is. Like having to
    use an egg timer keep track of how long she can talk on the phone, all because she accidentally created a generous
    amount of charges on the phone bill because she made a long distance call to her sister.

    Rachel tries everything to convince her parents that this is a very bad idea, especially having two hormonal
    teenagers under the same roof. But since her parents won’t budge, Rachel slowly sees that this could be the
    perfect opportunity to make Nick fall in love with her.

    Of course, this little arrangement doesn’t go so well in the beginning, since Nick thinks Rachel is a little diva while
    Rachel finds him to be a complete jerk who can’t do anything for himself. Not only that, but in the heat of the
    moment, Rachel created her very own fake boyfriend just to impress him.

    As the days go by, though, both begin to see a different side of each other and secrets that have kept them
    wondering will open up a whole new friendship that they never thought was possible.

    A hilarious novel, THE YEAR NICK MCGOWAN CAME TO STAY will be on everyone’s mind. Taking place
    in 1989, Rebecca Sparrow lets us see what the teen angst and drama was like almost two decades ago. Rachel
    will be the girl who everyone wants to be since she got to live with Nick McGowan!