Dalrymple’s fine collection requires a parenthetical explanation in the title because the kids in the stories do not understand the source of puppy love. The adolescents cannot distinguish between love and lust. Dalrymple’s adult characters merely think they understand the nuances of the powerful forces of love and physical attraction, but they are helpless to follow rational behavior when afflicted by lust. These stories are not chivalric romances. They vividly illustrate real people in love, real people like all of us. The characters in this assemblage get by as best they can in often humorous and always poignant ways. Among the characters are:

• an idealistic eleven-year-old with a gift for pencil drawing and a crush on his teacher
• a forty-seven-year-old real estate agent looking for another ego-bolstering bedpost notch
• a beautiful, lonely young woman whose only knowledge of love comes from classical literature and her mother’s dire warnings about nasty things boys seek

These (sort of) love stories will remind us of ourselves and many people we know, perhaps in ways we are reluctant to admit.