cover image Seth Baumgartner's Love Manifesto

Seth Baumgartner's Love Manifesto

Eric Luper, HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray, $16.99 (304p) ISBN 978-0-06-182753-2

After the title character's girlfriend dumps him on the same day he sees his father with another woman, Seth starts an anonymous podcast where he plays songs and muses on the nature of love and lust. In addition to the podcast and his job at a country club's pro shop, Seth is also spying on his father's "other" woman, assisted by best friend Dimitri, who plays the sex-obsessed sidekick role. As the podcast grows in popularity, Seth's anonymity is stripped away, getting him in trouble for his candor. At the golf course, a friendship develops with Dimitri's wiser-than-her-years little sister, Audrey, while the plot builds to an over-the-top confrontation among Seth, his love interests, his father, and his father's two women during the annual father-son golf tournament. Though Seth is not quite as evolved as he thinks he is—he describes his father's other woman as "a slightly weather-beaten Eva Longoria wannabe," and repeats Dimitri's comment that Seth's mother is a "major-league MILF"—Luper (Bug Boy) delivers plenty of laughs for the average male reader, if not feminists. Ages 12–up. (June)