Seth Baumgartner's Love Manifesto

Written by Eric Luper

Narrated by Nick Podehl

Seth Baumgartner just had the worst day of his life.

His girlfriend dumped him (at Applebee’s), he spied his father on a date with a woman who is not his mother (also at Applebee’s!), and he lost his fourth job of the year. It’s like every relationship he cares about is imploding, and he can’t figure out what’s going on.

To find answers, Seth decides to start an anonymous podcast called The Love Manifesto, exploring “what love is, why love is, and why we’re stupid enough to keep going back for more.” Things start looking up when Seth gets a job at a golf club with his hilarious and smut-minded best friend, Dimitri, and Dimitri’s sister, Audrey. With their help, Seth tracks down his father’s mystery date, hits the most infamous bogey in the history of golf, and discovers that sometimes love means eating the worst chicken-salad sandwich you can ever imagine.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• Release date: Jun 8, 2010
• ISBN: 9781441859679

Eric Luper

Although Eric Luper never masqueraded as a girl to enter a competition, he did enter a lot of contests, some of which he actually won! Eric is the author of the teen novels Seth Baumgartner's Love Manifesto, Bug Boy, and Big Slick. This is his first novel for middle-grade readers. Eric lives in upstate New York with his family.

Reviews for Seth Baumgartner's Love Manifesto

[leirali · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A decent read. Nothing too special, though. Seth is a likable narrator and I was immediately hooked by the opening chapter when he is dumped by his girlfriend, sees his dad with another woman, and is fired from his fourth job of the year all on the same day. But I did tune out a bit during the golf scenes. (Much of the setting is at a summer golf club.)I picked this audio book up because I saw it has an iPod on the cover. Why, I listen to my audio books on my iPod! A perfect match! When I found out the narrator uses podcasting to make sense of his love life, I thought this would be a perfect novel for audio. I am a fan Nick Podehl's narration, and would listen to anything he narrates. He's believable as a teenage boy, and his voices for other characters are superb.

[readerspeak_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A student said this book was "awesome" with such enthusiasm I was a little nervous about what must be inside. Unfortunately, my expectations were too high when I started it.Seth has a fantastically horrid day at the beginning of this story. His girlfriend dumps him, he finds out his father is cheating on his mom, and he gets fired all within a few hours. As Seth reels from these developments, he begins to ponder what love is all about and spends time broadcasting his thoughts in a podcast. Will he tell his mother what he knows? Will he get back with his ex-girlfriend? I didn't really care to find out. The ending did have a good twist, although I expected a twist all along. I'd recommend 24 Girls in 7 Days or Spanking Shakespeare before this book.

[reader1009-863136 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Teen fiction; for boys. I liked this not just because it is a nice love/not love story, but because it's actually written with teenage boy humor that teenage boys would actually appreciate. I've read several books narrated by boy characters but not that many that I might actually convince a boy to read.

[librarybrandy · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Lots of good things about this:

(a) it's a romance, of sorts, for dudes

(b) Nick Podehl narrates

(c)it's realistic, not over-the-top crassness

(d) it's a book for guys that deals with relationships, without being super-sappy or super-macho?

On the other hand, I called the ending by the halfway point and it wasn't as hilarious as I'd been led to believe. Still, an easy booktalk for high schoolers.

[theheathers · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I wanted a change of pace from all the girly books I've been reading, so I decided on Seth Baumgartner's Love Manifesto by Eric Luper. Probably 95% of what I read, both fiction and non, is written by female authors with female main characters. It's always been that way. I don't like reading things I can't relate to, which is why I've never gotten into fantasy or science fiction genres. This novel was an exception. I don't know what it's like to have a guy's perspective, to face the problems men encounter or understand the realities of a teenaged boy. But still, I found ways to relate to the main character, Seth. Although I didn't always find him likable, there were moments where I felt I understood him, and parts of the plot I could sympathize with.It all starts when Seth basically has the worst day of his life. His girlfriend breaks up with him at Applebee's and before he can vacate the scene of the crime, he catches his father on a date with a woman who isn't his mom. To top it off, he's late returning from break to his job, so he gets fired. As his summer progresses from terrible to downright confusing, he creates a podcast radio show to document the ins and outs of love as he experiences it. I wouldn't choose to read this novel again, just because it's not my cup of tea (I'm happy to return to all my girly reading now), but I know so many people I would definitely recommend this book to.

[pocketmermaid · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A decent read. Nothing too special, though. Seth is a likable narrator and I was immediately hooked by the opening chapter when he is dumped by his girlfriend, sees his dad with another woman, and is fired from his fourth job of the year all on the same day. But I did tune out a bit during the golf scenes. (Much of the setting is at a summer golf club.)I picked this audio book up because I saw it has an iPod on the cover. Why, I listen to my audio books on my iPod! A perfect match! When I found out the narrator uses podcasting to make sense of his love life, I thought this would be a perfect novel for audio. I am a fan Nick Podehl's narration, and would listen to anything he narrates. He's believable as a teenage boy, and his voices for other characters are superb.

[shellypya · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Seth just got dumped by Veronica, his girlfriend of 8 months. The same day, he also sees his father looking more than just friendly with a woman that is not his mom. Not understanding why, he starts a podcast where he talks about love, listing the reasosn he loves Veronica and discussing his parents' marriage. It takes him many podcasts before he discovers that things are not always what they seem and that his feelings for Veronica may not be what they once were.