I have read most of Susane Colasanti’s books, and recently have been a little disappointed in them. The last few seemed cliche and typical, nothing like the unique writing from this author that I had come to expect and enjoy. With this recent publication though, my faith has been restored. Told in the alternating voices of two narrators–Skye and her crush Seth–we get to know the details of both of their lives, not just the typical one-sided story. I liked getting a closer look at both of the main characters and who they were, and then getting to “hear” the way the other character saw things.

All I Need is full of young love, walks on the beach, and friendship troubles. Sometimes I felt like Skye, Seth, and their friends were acting immature for their age; it was a bit tough to keep their age in perspective. One chapter they would be acting like adults towards each other and talking about college life, and the next they would act like freshmen in high school. For the most part though, this book was a delight to read. It was light, fresh, and fast-paced. Definitely something that is easy to pick up and set down without having to remember a bunch of plot and back-story information.

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language:  5 religious exclamations; 3 mild obscenities; 2 derogatory names; 3 anatomical terms.

Violence/Gore:  None

Sex/Nudity:  A character attends a co-ed sleepover, but nothing inappropriate happens; teen sweethearts kiss multiple times; a boy refers to a girl as “hot”; a girl jokes that a boy is thinking about “dirty things”, but doesn’t elaborate on what it might be; a character talks of her relationships as “sexual adventures”; a boy and girl touch each other briefly in what could be a sexual way; characters talk about their love lives and mention sex briefly; minors have sex once, without explicit detail.

Mature Subject Matter:

Teenage partying, teen relationships/sex, lying.

Alcohol / Drug Use:

Teens drink alcohol at parties; teens are mentioned to get slightly drunk; there is beer pong at a party; adults drink; smoking is mentioned.