Customer Rating: 
Summary: i just loved it!
Comment: eventhough the story line is simple (clique), which is
about the love between a hardworking girl(in another word, nerd)
and a slack off rock singer-wannabe in a highschool,
it makes me miss for a simple, passionate love.
The love between those two makes me love the book more.
The process of knowing each other, trying to understand each other etc...
its pretty uncommon nowadays, especially in highschool
where people decide their partners by their looks and popularity.
This book clashes against those ideas and go for what they actually want.
Not by the society.
It is true this book is not perfect still I just loved it!
Customer Rating: 
Summary: So cute!
Comment: God, I needed this. (A girl has much to grain from a pinch of romance amidst the midterm hustle.) I have no idea what worked here to make this novel as, I don't know, endearing? Whatever it was, kudos to Ms Colasanti--a mi me gusta.
Okay, so the theme of this novel is already stamped on the title--what happens when it happens. "It" being "something real". (I'm gonna do an adjunct summary to the one above because I'm having fun describing this story. Bear with me.) Voila:
See, the (very likeable) heroine, Sara, gets caught up in this relationship with one of those projected Everything Boys--popular, good-looking, charismatic, *barfs out every Gary Stu quality under the sun* (etc.). She's thrilled--wouldn't you be? Except that Dave (that's the Ken doll) doesn't make her feel very special; in fact, he's only in it to, you know, "get down tonight" and she's just not ready for that. Being with him is labor in and of itself cos the dude is, when you get down to it, a son of a bitch.
Meanwhile, over in Reality, there's Tobey, a seemingly confident (not so much on the inside, as seen through his first person narration) musician who wants to be with Sara. While she's undergoing her will-she-or-won't-she in regards to breaking up with Ken Doll, Tobey keeps devising ways to get her to get it over with already because he thinks she's his "something real" and vice versa. (! Too cute.)
This isn't really a spoiler because any half-wit can probably happens: They get together. (!! Too cute.) And unlike with Dave, Sara feels this incredible connection to Tobey. He does too, with her. It's instant--it's a click--it's love.
It is TOO CUTE. Just thinking about them as a couple makes me squeal, so I know other romance lovers out there (especially those who like for the girl to go for the dark-haired, brooding, creative type) will devour this one. It's not only for the fluff-munchers either--there's a certain aspect of their relationship (this is a spoiler I won't share) that inspires some tension between the two. (Tension = sweet torment for us readers. :D) So all is not perfect in paradise, making the realist within me very happy.
SQUEAL.
Make no mistake however, this isn't perfection epitomized. (Can perfection be epitomized?) While I loved the focus on Sara and Tobey's squeal-ness, Sara's best friend and even Sara herself had some tough home situations which were only dealt with in peripheral. If these element had to be in the story, I think they deserved to become more prominent (and, conversely, to be given a more complete resolution). Also, there were a couple of characters, like Cynthia and the art teacher, who felt more like props than real people and were only utilized when jealousy needed to be stirred or there was something to be figured out. In that sense, this novel came short.
ETA: Oh and I meant to add in here somewhere that sometimes I got sick of Tobey objectifying Sara (many a sexual scenario ongoing in his imagination). I mean, I know you've got the hots for her, but it got to the saturation level. Andandand, I sometimes found his narrative cheesy. Because this = two first person accounts, Sara and Tobey's. Most of the dual narrative novels I've read encounter this problem when the author tackles the opposite sex, so it's not exclusive to this book. Or maybe guys really are like they're portrayed and I just have issues when it comes to figuring that out.
Howeverrrrrrrrr, I (perhaps highly) recommend this one. It goes by very quickly and, to me at least, it was of the very feel-good variety.
That said, I still disliked the second Colasanti book, Take Me There. Hard to believe it followed When It Happens, but there you have it.
Customer Rating:
Summary: An Unforgettable Story
Comment: It's both Sarah and Tobey's senior year of high school. Sara's got everything planned out: she's going to attend NYU after she graduates. And she's all set to go with her stellar grades. Tobey on the other hand doesn't plan on attending college. He figures he'll win Battle of the Bands and move onto greater things than school. But there is one thing he's sure on: making Sara fall in love with him.
When It Happens was a cute and funny story that I thoroughly enjoyed. Sara and Tobey have the perfect kind of romance that everyone wishes they had. Susane Colasanti understands teen emotions well, especially those of the smart girl and the music junkie. The plot flowed smoothly, and I really liked the alternate narration between Sara and Tobey. If this novel had one flaw, it would be that the story was too perfect, which made it unrealistic. I know I was wondering if everything in this story continued to be this perfect when they started college.
If you're looking for a light, fun, and enjoyable story, When It Happens is the novel for you. I'm definitely going to check out Susane Colasanti's next novel, Take Me There.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Not worth your time
Comment: The writing in this book is very thin -- as are the characters, the dialogue, and the plot. I found it boring and a bad read. Instead, I would recommend Sarah Dessen's books. Dessen's books don't feel like a waste of time, which this one did.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Liv's Book Reviews
Comment: This was a good book. Very good. I think that Susane Colasanti's whole writing/plot style is rather like Sara Dessen's except she doesn't deal with as heavy subjects has Sara does. And I think the whole lightness of the story is what made it so great. It was a real story; it was something that you could totally picture happening, but it also just kind of swept you away into happy land as you watched this magical romance unfold. Tobey and Sara were the most unlikely match and yet somehow, against all odds, they ended up together and infinitely happy. It's definitely a nice and optimistic plot that will appeal to anyone. We all want to be told that no matter what, we'll find that special person, and this book shows that anything can happen and with anyone. One of the high points of the book was the characters. They were all really in depth and real to me which is the most I could ask for in a book. I love having characters that are flawed and yet still relatable enought that you root for them throughout the entirety of the story. For the most part, When It Happens is your ideal beach read. You might have to do a little bit of thinking here and there, and there might be a small instance of heart break, but it all adds to the overall charm and wonderfulness of the book. I highly recommend it if you want a story that you can just sit down and dreamily get lost in. And don't we all want that every now and then?
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