The Boys Next Door, by Jennifer Echols

It’s clear that Simon and Schuster hasn't exactly pulled out all the PR stops for YA novelist Jennifer Echols. Both of her books (2006’s Major Crush and the just-released The Boys Next Door) are cheaply bound paperbacks with generic teen-girl cover art—the kind of packaging that suggests they’re disposable series romances, designed to while away a pleasant hour or two. But while Ms. Echols’s books might be fluffy teen romances, they’re fluffy teen romances of the very best kind: light, funny, and sharp.

Lori, the heroine of The Boys Next Door, has always spent her summers hanging out on the lake with the Vader brothers. She’s particularly close to Adam, but she’s spent the past decade nursing a crush on his older brother Sean. Lori has decided that this is the year she’ll get Sean to see her as a potential girlfriend, and she’s pulling out all the stops: mascara (as soon as she can figure out how to apply it), a bikini, and her best attempt at blushing femininity. But as Lori’s campaign to nab Sean progresses, she discovers that her relationship with Adam could use a little re-evaluating, too.

Teen literature is full of girls making idiotic plans to catch a boy’s interest. Even smart heroines, like Meg Cabot’s Princess Mia, are obnoxiously prone to Bridget Jones-style mishaps. In the hands of another author, Lori’s bikini top would have fallen off, her mascara would have run, and her relationships with Sean and Adam would have turned into a massive comedy of errors. It’s a huge relief to read about a heroine who acts like a sane, normal girl—her plans don’t always work, but Lori never makes an out-and-out ass of herself.

Unfortunately, books that read like the “My Most Embarrassing Moments” column in Seventeen magazine are selling like hotcakes right now, so Ms. Echols may be doomed to remain a lowly paperback-only author for the foreseeable future. Still, there’s a market out there for lively romances starring heroines who don’t act like idiots, so we’re hopeful that Ms. Echols’s books will one day find a larger audience. Meanwhile, everyone should take advantage of the fact that Simon and Schuster’s cheap paperback editions retail for a mere $6.99, because books this fun usually cost a lot, lot more.