Paul Griffin’s young adult novel features a massive-headed but smiling pit bull* both on its cover and in the story.

    This funny, heartbreaking novel brings contemporary characters and street atmosphere to the age-old story of two teenagers in first love ... until something terrible happens.

    The couple, who narrate from alternating* first-person viewpoints, are Mack Morse and Cece Vaccuccia.

    Morse is a Texas-raised, dyslexic* dropout whose mother left years ago after “God called her to be an actress.” He and his alcoholic* father live in a part of New York City that is several worlds removed from the Upper East Side. Dad’s a janitor*. The boy, having scored a criminal record for stealing pizzas when he was starving and cutting a kid who attacked him, works as a dishwasher at Vic’s Italian restaurant. He also walks and trains dogs, skills learned from his mother.

    Vaccuccia, for her part, is a tough-talking A student who lives close by with her football-star-turned-line-cook older brother, Anthony, and her own alcoholic mother, Carmella.

    Anthony, who likes Morse despite his sketchy* past, wants to couple him up with Vaccuccia. The two soon fall for each other.

    The wisdom in the dog-handling scenes in the book makes them most interesting.

    Griffin’s vivid* descriptions of the city are another highlight. (SD-Agencies)