Another awesome read that I am positive I never would have found if it weren't for Book Battle! The point of view goes back and forth between Liana who has recently been branded as the school slut and Hank a musician with Asperger's Syndrome. I love both as main characters and how they interact with each other. There are some really good heartfelt moments along with some really funny ones! The ending could have been expanded a little more I feel but that just because I enjoyed the characters and story so much I didn't want it to end. ( )

Earnest attempt at something meaningufl, and cute enough teen romance, but just not fully successful to recommend to readers who aren't already big YA fans and ready to forgive some implausibilities and coincidences. ?�I didn't quite fully believe the characters, either. ?á

And the bit about science is ridiculous - nothing that Liana does resembles research, and even if she is doing research behind the scenes, why is she doing it in a chemistry lab? ?áWhat's described as her focus would be better done on university computers, where she could get access to journals of original research and then create a novel synthesis. ?á

I don't know enough about music to know whether Hank's obsession makes sense. ( )

Hank, the kid with Asperger's, is a great character, nicely done. Liana, not so much. The big unspoken problem with this book is that - frankly - the authors are using "kissing" as a metaphor for, uh, something a little stronger. Think about it. The girl gets called a slut for kissing a few guys. Come on! She wouldn't get called a slut, and even if somebody called her that, she would know better than to half-believe it as she does in this novel. The publisher is owned by Disney, so maybe the authors had to use kissing as a substitute for what we all know they were really writing about. But it makes for one weird book. ...In spite of all that, I read it all the way through, partly because I liked Hank, and partly to see if they ever made sense of the kissing issue. They didn't. ( )

When I read THE HALF-LIFE OF PLANETS, I found the characters absolutely irresistible. It’s a novel in two voices — Liana, a girl who really likes to kiss boys and is trying to quit or at least not kiss any new boys this summer, and Hank, who is cripplingly obsessed with music and the polar opposite of his gets-all-the-girls brother. When girl meets boy in — of all places — the women’s restroom, Liana is struck by Hank’s cool demeanor and quirky style. Hank is struck by Liana’s tight t-shirt. And while Liana remains dedicated to being kissless all summer long, spurred on by the SLUT note someone left in her locker and her summer job at an astrology lab, Hank can’t get enough of her. Soon, they have regular dates at the local coffeeshop. They’re connecting. But when Liana finds out that Hank’s quirky charm and passion for music is actually Asperger’s syndrome, she freaks out. And Hank’s inability to pick up on social cues seems to be leading their relationship to disaster.

I love that this is not an “issues book” despite all the issues presented. I love that it portrays Asperger’s Syndrome as part of Hank, not as his entire identity, and Liana’s very real reaction to discovering Hank’s secret. THE HALF-LIFE OF PLANETS is also about family and loss, with Liana’s hypochondriac dad and emotionally distant mother, and Hank’s jumbled family and unaddressed grief. It is a book about a boy who loves music and a girl who loves science as much as it is about a failing self-image or a socially stunting disability. It’s a book about mistakes and reparations, promises and second chances.

It’s the kind of book that I hope the ALA will pick up on this fall, when doling out accolades like the Schneider Family Book Award, which is a medal given to books for young people about disabilities. Because THE HALF-LIFE OF PLANETS paints a picture of two kids and the summer they fell for each other — it is not just what the ALA refers to as “the disability experience,” but it is the human experience, first and foremost. ( )

A sweet romance between a girl who’s trying to get over her addiction to kissing and a music-loving boy with Asperger’s. I did feel like quirky traits took the place of genuine character-building sometimes, and I was really annoyed at Lianna’s complete inability or unwillingness to understand how Hank’s actions are affected by having Asperger’s. But despite those reservations, I enjoyed this. ( )