What's the Name of That Book??? discussion

I read a book around 2005 that was a compilation of stories from female authors. I could have sworn one of the authors was Jacqueline Wilson (which would have been my reason for buying the book in the first place) but I can't find it listed amongst her bibliography. The over all theme for the book was teenage love/relationships.

I can vaguely recall two stories
1) a girl is upset that her first time having sex wasn't as special as she'd thought it would be, and her boyfriend at the time "could have atleast put rose petals on the bed." the incident takes place around her prom I think, as she mentions another girl having bought an expensive prom dress, and promptly ripping the tags off it, then later finding out she couldnt go to the prom, or return the dress. I think in the end, the MC starts dating some one she had recently regarded as a nerd.

story 2)
a young girl is left wheelchair bound after an accident (possibly at a funfair?) before the accident she had a boyfriend/crush, who had bought her a necklace. since the accident she has pushed both him, and her own sister away, and these two then become close. the girl throws out her necklace, which the boy later finds in the rubbish, and it steels his resolve that she no longer cares for him, and I think its implied that he then pursues her sister.

it's driving me crazy not being able to find this!

It might be on this YA Short Stories & Collections list.

Love Hurts or another collection by Miriam Hodgson?

She had several along these lines.

bump

Reader, did you rule out Miriam Hodgson?

yes I did, I also tried the YA short stories list and couldn't find anything

Were the stories based in the UK?

Did it seem like a new collection at the time, or could it have been older?

oh I feel like they were UK based, but I can't recall any location names to confirm it ><
I got it second hand I think, so it could have been older

Does anything on the 20th Century YA Anthologies list look familiar?

hi again, nothing rang any bells on the 20th century list either. :(

Queen of Teen was likely published too late?

yes it's not that either, thank you for trying so hard to help though!

Shining On?



But in a way, it’s kind of . . . well, a relief. I mean, Cal NEVER followed my rules. He was completely unsupportive of the fact that I want the night I lose my virginity to be special, not some grope-fest in his sweaty-sock-smelling bedroom while his parents are seeing Man of La Mancha or something at the Chevy Chase Dinner Theater. There should be clean sheets involved, at the very least. And my name spelled in rose petals on the pillows. And a new episode of America’s Next Top Model to watch afterwards.

This has gotta be it!

The first story is "Allie Finklestein’s Rules for Boyfriends" by Meg Cabot, and the second is "Skin Deep" by Rosie Rushton.

Well, I ripped the necklace off, actually, so violently that the chain broke. I almost cried — but then, anger took over. OK, so I’d said that I would keep it forever, but that was when I looked normal, when I was proper girlfriend material, when I deserved to have a love token. Not now. I went into the kitchen, opened the pedal bin and flung the necklace inside. Then I ran upstairs, slammed my bedroom door and cried like I’d never cried before.

Great find, Rainbowheart!

It was good that OP remembered Jacqueline Wilson! I eventually found it by searching the author and "rose petals" on Archive.org.

Oh my word that's exactly it! thank you so much, you put so much effort into finding that <3

Awesome, I'm super glad we were able to find it!