Staff Pick
The Careful Undressing of Love is a perfect example of why I love magical realism. This modern fairy tale chronicles the coming-of-age experiences of a group of girls cursed to lose anyone they fall in love with. Like Francesca Lia Block, Aimee Bender, and Alice Hoffman, Corey Ann Haydu's writing is dazzling. The Devonairre Street girls stole my heart. Recommended By Emily F., Powells.com
I loved this introspective book about the nature of love and fear. Lorna and her friends, the Devonairre Street girls, might be cursed — but they might not be. Lorna struggles to find her place in the midst of this uncertainty while dealing with the grief caused by the loss of a friend — a loss that may prove the curse to be real. Corey Ann Haydu deftly handles the intricacies of this supposed curse, never quite showing her hand. I don't often read books that so accurately capture the experience of being a teenage girl, and especially not the types of books that also include curses. Don't skip this one: The Careful Undressing of Love is a rare sort of book, magical and painful and true. Recommended By Ashleigh B., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
The girls of Devonairre Street have always been told they re cursed. Any boy they love is certain to die too soon. But this is Brooklyn in 2008, and the curse is less a terror and more a lifestyle accessory something funky and quaint that makes the girls from the shortest street in Brooklyn special. They wear their hair long and keys around their necks. People give them a second look and whisper Devonairre to their friends. But it s not real. It won t affect their futures.
Then Jack their Jack, the one boy everyone loved dies suddenly and violently. And now the curse seems not only real, but like the only thing that matters. All their bright futures have suddenly gone dark.
The Careful Undressing of Love is a disturbing and sensual story of the power of youth and the boundless mysteries of love set against the backdrop of Haydu s brilliantly reimagined New York City."