I Think I Love You (2010) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

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Characters/People edit see section history

• Petra Williams: The protagonist. In part 1, she is 13 years old and in love with David Cassidy. In part 2, she is an adult, newly-divorced with a tween daughter.
• David Cassidy: Teen idol from the 1970s; lead singer of The Partridge Family. TV star and pop singer. In this novel, the object of the main character's affection (from afar).
• Bill: Add a description of this character.
• Sharon
• Bill aka Mr Finn, and Boss: A writer for the Essential David Cassidy Magazine. He writes a monthly letter to David's fans, as David, and write articles about what David likes in a girl or what he does in his spare time.
• Zelda
• Marcus
• Molly
• Sharon Lewis: Petra's best friend, who goes with her to the David Cassidy concert.
• Gillian Edwards: Another friend of Petra (and Sharon), but is the "mean girl" of the group; beautiful and manipulative.
• Molly Isolde: Petra's teenage daughter
• Marie
• Zelda Franklin: Bill's boss at the Essential David Cassidy Magazine
• Ruth: Bill's girlfriend who is aware that he is a music journalist, but not that he writes exclusively about David Cassidy.
• Mark Tugwell: Petra's ex-husband
• Carol: One of Gillians "minions" who becomes a star in the eyes of the protagonist after the eventful concert.
• Pete: One of Bill's friends
• Denise
• Mr Finn
• Stuart
• Greta: Petra's mother; highly critical of her daughter and vehemently opposed to pop culture. Always dressed up and perfectly groomed.
• Margaret
• Ashley
• Carrie
• Angela
• Olga: A girl in Petra's group of friends. Petra always felt like her and olga would have been great friends had they not avoided such a thing. One girl with a foreign name is one thing but two as best friends? They stayed acquaintances for survival.
• Steven Williams: Petra's first real boyfriend. She has a crush on him when they are in school together.
• Roger Finn
• Michael
• Stuart Morris
• Chas
• Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon: The younger sister of Queen Elizabeth II. Petra is a gifted cellist, and as a teenager is asked to play for a concert in honor of Princess Margaret's visit.
• Declan
• Hendrix
• Roy Palmer
• Susan Dey: David Cassidy's co-star on The Partridge Family; she plays is sister Laurie Partridge. In this novel, she is mentioned because the girls who are fans of David Cassidy are very jealous of Susan and her proximity to David, even though she states in interviews that there is nothing romantic between them.
• Roth
• Maxine
• Donny Osmond: Another teen idol of the 1970s, only referenced in passing a few times.
• Mrs Lewis
• Derek
• Mr Griffiths
• Karen Carpenter: Female pop singer of the 1970s whose fatal struggle with anorexia is mentioned in the novel.
• Michael Lewis
• Susan Davies: A girl who had an unfortunate smell. Also called Smelly Susan. She also had terrible acne. She took exemplary care of her beautiful long golden hair.
• Gavin
• David Crockett
• Declan Walsh
• Jackie
• Wendy Petrie
• Melody
• Rita
• Marie O'Donnell
• Karen Jones
• Mamgu
• Greg Chisholm
• Matthew
• Gareth Roberts
• Miss Fairfax
• Jimmy Lo
• Zoe
• Lesley
• Colin Hobbs
• Clare Possit
• Sam
• Hannah
• Judith
• Sasha Harper
• Louisa Becks
• Joanna Crampton
• William Finn
• Bernadette Whelan
• Barry McCann
• Mair
• Glenys
• Mrs. Crockett
• Harry
• Ben
• Emily Shattock
• Kate
• Paula
• Richard
• Frieda Davies
• Mrs. David Bruce Cassidy
• Molly burrows

Quotes edit see section history

• “The magazines generally had seven pages of things you had wrong with your looks, followed by an article called "Confidence and How to Get It." One day, when we were much older, we might have a laugh about that, but not yet. If our skins were still problematic and subject to uncontrollable eruptions, then so were our hearts; agonizingly tender and so easily hurt."”

  Petra

• Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers

• Motherhood was like being in a play and only ever having the lines for the scene you were in at any given moment. By the time you figured out how to play the part, the curtain dropped and it was on to the next act.

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• You chose the kind of friends you wanted because you hoped you could be like them and not like you. To improve your image, you made yourself more stupid and less kind. As the months passed, the trade-off for belonging started to feel too great. The shutting down of some vital part of yourself, just so you could be included on a shopping trip into town, not have to sit on your own at lunch or have someone to walk home with. Now among friends, you were often lonelier than you had been before.

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• The hierarchy of girls was so much more brutal than that of boys. The boys battled for supremacy out on the pitch and, after, they showered away the harm. The girls played dirtier. For girls, it was never just a game.

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• It’s so hard for a child to understand her parents’ unhappiness. Mine, if only I’d known it, were infected with the virus of incompatibility. Nobody died from it, but nobody lived, either.

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• Feeling superior to your rivals was one of the sweetest pleasures of being a fan, and maybe of being female in general.

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• All of the Cassidy girls have entered the age of grief, that time when life’s losses start to stack up. Few will have been spared. Count yourself lucky if you get to your mid-thirties without knowing death, divorce or other species of grief.

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• And so we carried on the game, the eternal ping-pong of female friendship, the reassurance that never truly reassures, but we crave it anyway. The game that always ends in a score draw, if you want to keep your friend.

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• It’s not always easy to recognize the significant moments of your life as you’re living them, but Petra understands this is one of them. To stand in that hall and to realize that neither of her parents will ever answer the phone again. Nor will she ever need to dial their number. Death itself is too big to take in, she already sees that; the loss comes at you instead in an infinite number of small installments that can never be paid off.

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• At thirteen years of age, I couldn’t imagine the luxury of having a friend you could disagree with.

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• Too much female energy goes into getting smaller instead of bigger and bolder.

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Setting & Locations edit see section history

• London
• White City
• America
• England
• Los Angeles
• Cardiff
• Miss Fairfax
• South Wales
• California
• Manchester
• Germany
• London, England
• Las Vegas, Nevada

First Sentence edit see section history

Themes & Symbolism edit see section history

• celebrity worship: Describe this theme.
• Female Friendship

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Allison Pearson (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: PR6116.E17123 2010
• Dewey: 823.92

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Add a note to help parents select a book for a child.

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Literature & Fiction › Contemporary

Books Cited by This Book edit see section history