I Love You, Beth Cooper (by Larry Doyle)

Denis Cooverman, captain of the debate team and Star Wars light saber owner, declares his love for popular cheerleader Beth Cooper during his valedictorian speech in front of the entire graduating class. Unlike his fantasies, however, this does not lead to their marriage. Instead, he spends the night running from Beth's massive, violent boyfriend, who wants to kill him. Painfully. Along the way, with both their friends in tow, Denis discovers Beth is a tad more real -- and exciting -- than the angel he imagined.

A homage to teen movies, I LOVE YOU, BETH COOPER manages to be both retro and contemporary, of-the-moment and timeless. It's also laugh-out-loud funny, with absurd bits that catch the reader by surprise. (The impossibility of Denis' love "hung over his huge head like a sword of Damocles -- or to the non-honors graduates, like a sick fart.") Denis is socially clueless -- even his relationship with his maybe-gay best friend is awkward -- but readers will sympathize as they wince at his dweebishnes (he offers the boiling point of water when Beth makes small talk about the heat). Beth, far from an empty-headed cheerleader, works 35 hours a week and recognizes that high school may be as good as her life gets.

The final fourth of the book devolves into an increasingly unlikely (and less funny) mash of sex, alcohol, and violence, but by that point readers will just want to find out how Denis' wild night works out.