Crazy Messy Beautiful — Carrie Arcos

From National Book Award finalist Carrie Arcos--a fresh take on happily ever after, and friendship, that is anything but a love story.

When your namesake is Pablo Neruda -- the greatest love poet of all time -- finding “the one” should be easy. After all, sixteen-year-old aspiring artist Neruda Diaz has been in love many times before. So it's only a matter of time before someone loves him back.

Callie could be that someone. She's creative and edgy, and nothing like the girls Neruda typically falls for, so when a school assignment brings them together, he is pleasantly surprised to learn they have a lot in common. With his true love in reach and his artistic ambitions on track, everything is finally coming together.

But as Neruda begins to fall faster and harder than ever before, he is blindsided by the complicated nature of love -- and art -- in more ways than one. And when the relationships he's looked to for guidance threaten to implode, Neruda must confront the reality that love is crazier, messier, and more beautiful than he ever realized -- and riskier, too, than simply saying the words.