written in short paragraphs about a first love and break up. ( )

Everyone remembers their first love. It changes you, shapes who you are. This story is about first love, about Morris and Betty, who live in Sweden. It is told in short prose and makes for an interesting read for anyone who has ever loved or been in love.

Morris and Betty, two teens living in Stockholm, Sweden, meet and fall in love but the darkness within each of them at times makes it hard to maintain their love affair, especially after Betty compares Morris's behavior to that of his bipolar father. ( )

Jag tycker om korta böcker. Och jag tycker om böcker där språket och formen tillåts ta lika stor plats som handlingen. Alltså tycker jag om den här boken. Fast samtdigt är det som om något ändå saknas. Jag vet inte, kanske är den faktiskt lite för kort. ( )

Reviewed by LadyJay for TeensReadToo.com

Betty and Morris share a strange romance. They meet, have a one-night stand, and then fall in love.

Morris wants so badly for their relationship to work, but many things are working against them. Morris is embarrassed by his parents and does not want Betty to meet them. His father suffers from bi-polar disorder, while his mother talks incessantly about dreams and poetry. Morris begins to wonder if crazy people are drawn to one another, and what that might mean for his relationship with Betty.

Can they outlast the craziness that has brought them together, or will their relationship fail like so many others before it?

I NEED YOU MORE THAN I LOVE YOU AND I LOVE YOU TO BITS is Gunnar Ardelius' debut novel. The story is told through short prose passages. Many of these passages are snippets of conversation shared between Betty and Morris. Sometimes it is difficult to decipher which character is speaking; however, that may have been Ardelius' intention, to make the dialogue as ambiguous as possible. The story is interesting, and will appeal to teenagers who have experienced first love.

As they say, your first love is the one you never forget. ( )