“The Careful Undressing of Love is a book you relax into. For the first few pages, you’re picky, trying to sort Haydu’s magical world from our real one, and then it just takes you over. It’s weird until it’s not, and then it’s an examination of love and legacy and family, and the things girls do when we back them into corners and blame them for being there in the first place.”—#1 New York Times bestselling author E. K. Johnston
“Haydu explores such themes as differingexpressions of grief, destiny versus free will, the unexamined expectation thata girl will love a boy, and the interrelation (or lack thereof ) between sex and love.The slight magical realism and parallel-world setting add to this wrenching novel’s lyricism—and make the pain somewhat easier to bear.”—The Horn Book Magazine
“A carefully layered exploration of the age-old question, “Is it better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all?”—Kirkus
“Both straightforward and lyrical, this is a compelling read, a decidedly ambiguous portrayal of love that will resonate with those tired of formulaic romances.”—Booklist
“Heartbreakingly beautiful and haunting, Haydu holds your heart in her hands as you travel through the pages of this story.”—Romantic Times, Top Pick.
“The Careful Undressing of Love is sad and strange and beautiful. I will be marveling over Corey Ann Haydu’s writing for days to come.”—Johanna Albrecht, bookseller at Flyleaf Books, Chapel Hill, NC.
Praise for Corey Ann Haydu
★ “Haydu explores a sweet, unconventional romance alongside her characters’ well-known (but little-understood) disorder. Heartwarming, frequently funny, and wholly honest, this debut novel is, well, compulsively readable.” — Horn Book, starred review of OCD Love Story
★ “Witty, affecting, and ferociously individual.”
— BCCB, starred review of OCD Love Story
“Tender, wise, and heartbreakingly lovely, this story is as brilliant as a stolen star, and every bit as magical. Prepare to be enchanted.”
— Katherine Applegate, Newbery-award winning author on Rules for Stealing Stars
★ “Haydu masterfully portrays the stress of living with an alcoholic parent…. A well-crafted blend of realism and fantasy. Give to fans of Holly Goldberg Sloan’s Counting By 7s and Sarah Weeks’s So B It.”
–School Library Journal, starred review of Rules for Stealing Stars
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