Reading Level: Young Adult

Girl Gone Viral

Girl Gone Viral focuses on Opal Hopper, a bright, technology-loving student who attends a prestigious high school in the future. Social media has become even more ever-present, and the biggest trend is virtual reality. Opal Hopper’s father was a Silicon Valley tech engineer who disappeared mysteriously when she was a girl. She’s determined to win a contest where the prize is a meeting with Howie Mendelsohn, a powerful and reclusive tech mogul who she believes will have answers about her father’s disappearance.

For their contest entry, Opal and her friends make a WAVE, which is a VR performance that functionally resembles a live YouTube video. They go viral for using the audience’s biometric feedback data to reveal that a universally reviled celebrity has more sympathizers than anyone realizes. They call their show “Behind the Scenes” and, despite losing the contest, continue to make videos in the hopes of becoming famous enough to meet Howie Mendelsohn. As their following grows, Opal is exposed to the lives of famous Silicon Valley innovators and has to make decisions about the type of public figure she wants to be.

In the middle of all the drama and stress, the book begins to focus on the US presidential elections. Opal and her friends are shocked to find that a fringe presidential candidate from the “Luddite Party” has won the election. As the name suggests, Luddites want to revert America to its pre-information technology state. Politically savvy readers will recognize the characters’ reactions to the election, as they directly parallel the reactions to America’s November 2016 presidential election. Opal finds that many of her friends and acquaintances hold Luddite sympathies, and she is forced to ask difficult questions: Is there something dehumanizing about information technology? Is there something real life can give her that a computer can’t? These questions form some of the central themes of the book.

The beginning of this book may be difficult for some readers to dig into as the narrative is quick to introduce its multiple fictional technologies. The excitement of social media, technology, and celebrity worship is difficult to portray in a novel, and the story often falters in holding the reader’s attention. Multiple minor characters revolve in and out of the story and these characters become difficult to keep track of. Some readers may find that the slow pacing doesn’t hold their attention, but readers who enjoy political commentary and speculative fiction may find the world-building and details intriguing.

The main character is nuanced and real. She is well-written, but readers may dislike her for her ambition and for the difficult decisions she makes. The story captures the current concerns around Silicon Valley: its reclusive moguls, its high-speed technology, the strain it takes on mental health, and the concern that electronics can’t replace human contact. Readers will recognize their own fears in the book’s treatment of all-consuming social media crazes and out-of-control entrepreneurship.

The most intriguing commentary is the political allegory that takes the name of the “Luddite Party,” a fringe political party whose platform centers around rejecting technology. While Opal is purely pro-technology, many people around her have doubts. The book never gives a defining stance on the matter, and the reader is left to decide for themselves whether a world without human contact is a good thing or not.

Sexual Content

  • In their first year of high school, Opal and Shane had a “drunken awkward kiss.”
  • During her early web broadcasts, Opal is sexually harassed by internet trolls: “Even her boobs are trembling. B or C cup??… Anyone have a tape-measure?”
  • During a virtual web show, a guy “rushes up on stage and gropes” Opal. Even though the entire performance is electronic and virtual, she is shaken and uncomfortable.
  • The characters have access to the biometric feedback of their web show’s viewers. Moyo tells Opal that “There’s a small pool of viewers, mostly men, whose eyes blink rapidly during your performance, their faces shake, and their headsets are zoomed into your—”.
  • Opal’s boyfriend Moyo is the main love interest in the book. In one scene, they are “curled up in his bed, half dressed, half wrapped up in his white sheets.” The book never goes into more detail about their activity.
  • While discussing strategies to gain more viewers for her web show, a Silicon Valley mogul tells Opal to be more open and vulnerable with her audience. He does so by telling her: “Sex sells. I’m not saying you need to get naked or anything. . .Open up a bit more.” Opal ends up telling her audience of millions about her relationship with Moyo.
  • Enthusiastic fans sweep the characters up in what Opal can only describe as a “fangasm” (portmanteau of fan and orgasm).
  • Opal buys a piece of technology called “FondrFoil” for her and her boyfriend to use. It is a technology that allows long-distance couples to simulate physical intimacy. “Slowly, I curve my hand around Moyo’s ribs, squeezing them between his body and my mattress until I land on the small of his back. It’s warm, like real skin. Soft. It gives perfectly. Moyo’s trembling, and naturally I go in to kiss him, but that’s not part of the experience. So instead, I pull him in closer.” They don’t go farther than that, and eventually give up on the technology.

Violence

  • Opal is afraid that her friend Shawn will attempt suicide after having been rejected from his top-choice college. After being unable to find him on campus, she and her friend rush to the nearest train station in fear that he’s thrown himself in front of a train.
  • The Luddite Party “shocks children with electricity for spending too much time on their phones,” which is a pretty clear and clumsy allusion to conversion therapy.
  • Suicide is discussed sometimes, but never in-depth. It’s mentioned in passing that a student at Opal’s school once took his own life after being rejected from an Ivy League.
  • Amber, a character Opal contacts in the hope of finding answers about her dad, reveals that her father committed suicide.
  • A prevailing theory around Opal’s father’s disappearance is that he may have taken his own life. The characters frequently discuss how the high-stakes world of Silicon Valley is extremely damaging to one’s mental health.
  • When Opal finally discovers what happened to her dad, she sees a virtual-reality recreation of his death. A man “rams my dad in the face with his elbow, and I hear a crack as the back of [his] skull smashes into the moss-covered rock.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Opal and her friends sneak off campus multiple times to drink alcohol. Opal is scared that her friend Shane may have an alcohol problem.
  • There’s a rumor “that theater department stores booze underneath the soundboard,” which Opal remembers when some students act drunk during a school dance.
  • While experiencing Internet fame, Moyo says, “I think this is what drugs feel like.”
  • A character is described as “drunk on fame.”

Language

  • The characters occasionally say “fuck” during tense moments. Shane says, “I’m fucked” when he doesn’t get into college; Opal occasionally says “what the fuck?” There are twenty-two usages of “fuck” in the book; however, none are sexual in nature.
  • “Freaking” is used four times.
  • “Shit” is used multiple times per chapter.
  • Opal says, “I keep getting screwed by this company,” and, “Karma finds another way to screw you over.”
  • Opal’s classmates note that she is “such a bitch,” and Opal describes this gossip by saying, “I’m the girl our classmates are bitching about.” She also affectionately refers to her friend once as a “son of a bitch.”
  • “Damn” and “goddamn” are both used infrequently.
  • Characters occasionally say “Jesus Christ” or “for Christ’s sake.”
  • Characters say “Oh my God,” “thank God,” “God knows,” “for the love of God,” and “dear God.”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • Opal’s family celebrates Christmas, but she remarks that her father was Jewish.
  • Howie Mendelsohn references the Bible story of Ahab and Jezebel.

by Caroline Galdi

Snowhook

Fourteen-year-old Hannah isn’t thrilled about spending time in her family’s remote Alaskan cabin. She’d rather hang out with her friends or spend time at the mall. Instead, she’s learning survival skills that she doesn’t think she’ll ever need. Then, a massive ice storm traps her family, and Hannah’s mom is desperately low on insulin. With no power and no way to contact the outside world, Hannah decides to take matters into her own hands. Hannah sneaks away with the family’s four dogs and an old dogsled.

Hannah only plans to go as far as the nearest neighbor, who should have a working phone. But unexpected events lead her into the wilderness with a boy who disagrees with her at every turn. As the two teens fight worsening weather, Hannah must use all her skills to get help for her family before they all freeze to death in the wilderness.

Surviving the wilderness in the middle of a blizzard should lead to exciting events; however, Snowhook will only leave the reader frustrated. Hannah wants to be a hero, but instead, she comes off as an ungrateful, whiny brat who spends most of her time complaining. When her neighbor Peter joins her, the two spend almost all of their time yelling at each other. Even though the two are able to survive some dangerous situations, luck plays a bigger role in their survival than skill.

In addition to the two unlikable characters, there are many unanswered questions. For instance, Hannah and Peter must run from Peter’s aunt who has PTSD from being in the army; however, after they escape the aunt’s story is never told. In addition, Peter and Hannah have a strange argument about immigrants, Peter hints that he hates his father, and he is also clearly afraid of dogs. But in the end, none of these issues are discussed or resolved. Instead, once the two get to town, the story abruptly ends with no real closure.

Snowhook’s slow pace, difficult vocabulary, and argumentative characters make the story as difficult as walking through a snowdrift. Readers interested in cold weather survival stories should leave Snowhook on the shelf, and choose instead Not if I Save You First by Ally Carter or Trapped by Michael Northrop.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • When Hannah pounds on a neighbor’s door, the neighbor hits her in the chest with the butt of a rifle. “Hannah turned to see who had finally opened the door and immediately felt a hot, stinging sensation in her chest. Then she was lying on her back in the snow, unable to breathe.” Later Hannah learns that the woman was suffering from PTSD and often believed she was back in Afghanistan. The woman’s nephew, Peter, helps Hannah escape.
  • When Hannah and Peter leave the house, the woman shoots at them.
  • When Peter calls Hannah’s sister weird, “Hannah launched herself at him. His bent-over head and rounded shoulders received the brunt of her shove, and he landed with a whomp in the soft snow on the trailside.”
  • Hannah’s sled dogs fight. “Rudy was on top of Bogey for a long time, growling and screaming, tearing at Bogey’s face and ears, trying to roll over him. Bogey crouched, digging his paws into the ground and using his powerful legs to keep him upright, protecting his throat and trying to bite at whatever part of Rudy came near him. . . In a split second, Bogey was up. His whole mouth dripped blood and phlegm and spit, and his ears were flat against his head, with the crest of his skull puffed up twice its normal size.” The fight was described over three pages and the dogs are not seriously injured.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Hannah’s mom has diabetes and has to give herself an insulin injection.
  • When Peter is injured, Hannah gives him Tylenol for the pain.

Language

  • Profanity is used occasionally and includes asshole, bullshit, holy crap, crap, goddamn, damn, hell, jackass, shit.
  • Throughout the story, Hannah and Peter argue and call each other names including idiot, jerk, asshole, pansy-ass, shithead, chicken, and jackass.
  • One of the characters uses “Jesus” as an exclamation. For example, “By the Jesus, it’s cold.”
  • Peters says his dad is “chickenshit.”
  • Peter and Hannah argue and Peter calls Hannah an “idiot.” In return, Hannah calls Peter a “jackass.” In one fight Peter tells Hannah, “You’re just a snotty little city girl. Go to hell.”
  • When Hannah and Peter try to find safety, Peter yells, “If you hadn’t brought those goddamn dogs, if you hadn’t yelled and banged on the door, then everything would have been okay!”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

 

Following

Alden likes to follow people, especially his high school classmates. He’s not trying to be a creep—he wants to be an investigator! Following others is a good way to practice the skills he will need. Alden tries spying on his classmates for practice, but he isn’t expecting to find any dark, dangerous secrets.

That all changes when he follows the popular kid Greg Matthes to an abandoned park on the bad side of town. From a distance, Alden sees Greg kill his girlfriend, Amy. Alden soon finds himself looking for evidence to prove that Greg is a murderer. But the more he searches, the more questions Alden must answer. Without a body, Alden isn’t sure if Amy is dead or alive. Is there any way for Alden to discover Greg’s secrets or will he become the next victim?

Alden is a complicated, creepy character with a host of problems. Both of his parents were shot and killed in front of him. Filled with grief and guilt over his parent’s death, Alden hopes to one day use his investigative skills to save someone’s life. Told from Alden’s point of view, Following flashes back to the day that Alden’s parents died. Although the death of Alden’s parents helps explain his actions, Alden’s snooping is disturbing. Readers will often wonder why Alden makes such bad decisions when it comes to solving the crime.

Alden’s best friend Charlie is also not a very relatable character. Charlie helps Alden with his investigation because she likes taking risks. Because Charlie’s father is a police officer, her willingness to help Alden investigate a murder doesn’t quite ring true. Charlie clearly has a good relationship with her father, but she chooses to keep important information from him. At one point, Charlie decides that she needs space from Alden and ignores him. Unfortunately, Charlie isn’t the greatest friend, and she doesn’t add much to the story.

Even though Following is not a character-driven story, the mystery behind Amy’s murder will keep readers hooked. The dramatic conclusion contains several twists but leaves many unanswered questions. Although Alden isn’t the most likable character, he does learn that “we make decisions every day and often we don’t know the full consequences of those decisions until later. Maybe the key is to keep trying to do the best we can. If we can teach ourselves to do that, maybe it’ll make it easier to live with our choices. And their consequences.” This fast-paced story will keep readers guessing until the very end. Following will entertain mystery buffs who enjoy trying to piece clues together.

Sexual Content

  • As part of the narration, Amy and her boyfriend Greg are introduced. Because of Amy’s religious beliefs, “If Greg hopes for anything more than a kiss from her, he’s going to have to wait until after marriage, I’m sure.”
  • A year ago, Alden was at the county fair with his best friend, Charlie. Alden “had known her all my life, had grown up with her, but, for the first time, I was noticing how beautiful she was. . . For the first time, I was wondering what she would say if, after we got our snow cones and took a walk to eat them, I asked her if I could kiss her.” Alden and Charlie teased each other, and then Charlie “surprised me with a kiss on the cheek, and before I could react, she was running off in the opposite direction.”
  • Alden finds a phone with pictures of Greg and Alycia. “The first one shows them kissing. . .In the next picture, they had their hands around and all over each other while dressed in only their underwear. In the sixth and last picture, they’re lying in bed. The photo is not completely revealing, but it shows just enough to indicate they’re not wearing underwear. They’re not wearing anything at all.”
  • When Alden asks a girl to come over to his house, she says, “Is this some kind of cheap trick to get me alone with you in your house –”
  • When Amy finds out that her boyfriend was cheating on her, she yells, “Sex was more important to you than what we had?”
  • Amy tries to convince Greg to kill Alden. “Amy moves in behind him, wrapping both arms around his waist, her hands hanging tantalizingly close to the front of his jeans, below his belt buckle. ‘If you really want to, I’d even be willing to . . . you know.’”
  • Alden almost trips, but Charlie puts her hand out to steady him. “Her fingers on my skin. . . sent a tingle shooting through me. We’ve been friends forever, but I’d been noticing that tingle more and more lately.”
  • Alden and Charlie discuss Amy and her boyfriend. They wonder if Amy might have been pregnant because “they’ve been together a long time. How much longer can they just kiss and hold hands?”

 Violence

  • Alden thinks back to when his parents were killed at the county fair. After his parents were shot, they were taken to the hospital where “a doctor took us to another room. I didn’t need her to tell me that my father had died on the way in the ambulance, and that my mother had made it into the hospital before she died.”
  • Alden thinks back to the day his parents died. The shooter “had gotten off eight rounds, with six of them finding their targets. The whole thing took less than a minute. Within seconds there were people crying, calling for help, and police shouting orders.” The shooter “blew the back of his head off.” Alden walked over to look at the shooter’s body. The shooter “was lying on his back, uncovered, on the ground. Blood and brain matter formed a pattern on the grass at his head, but I was staring at his eyes, which were wide open, and his mouth was frozen in a half smile, as if, even in death, he was glad about what he’d done.” The scene is described over four pages.
  • Alden is talking to Amy on the phone when “a sudden slap cuts her off.”
  • The news talks about the death of a girl. The girl’s body was thrown in a lake and “the body had been weighted down. . . Early indications are that, though there was evidence of a head wound, the sixteen-year-old girl may have died of strangulation. . .”
  • Alden goes to a park and finds Greg restraining Amy. “In his other hand, he holds a gun, which he has pressed against her head. His grin is jagged and sharp.” Greg has Alden burn the evidence, then bury it in a hole. “All at once, I move, swinging the shovel over and up, the dirt hitting him perfectly in the face. He cries out, bringing one hand to his face, the gun still in his right hand. ‘Run, Amy!’ I shout as I swing again, the spade hitting him just above the right wrist.” Greg still has the gun, so Alden swings “the shovel once more, letting go of it this time. He grunts as it connects and I leap for the gun.” The gun falls out of Greg’s hand and Alden tries to grab it. “Just as my fingers encircle the gun, something slams into the back of my head. I go tumbling to the ground. . . Before I can get back up my head explodes again, and this time, I black out.” The scene is described over seven pages.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • When Greg goes to an abandoned park, Alden wonders if “he’s here to buy drugs. He’s an athlete, so maybe it’s steroids, and he comes all the way out here so no one he knows will see him. Or it could be worse than steroids. Could perfect Greg Matthes be a secret drug addict?”
  • Alden mentions several times that after work his uncle sits in front of the TV with “beer in hand.” Alden says, “There have been times when, on the nights he’s had an extra beer or two, I’ll hear him mumbling to himself.”

Language

  • Profanity is used occasionally. Profanity includes crap, damn, hell, pissed, and shit.
  • When a man walked into Alden, the man calls Alden an asshole.
  • “God,” “Oh God,” and, “Oh Christ” are used as exclamations.
  • Alden hides a backpack in a closet. When someone goes towards the closet, Alden thinks, “Oh, crap. I should say something to make him stop. . .”
  • When Charlie tells Alden that she needs space, he wondered “if I want to beg her to stay or tell her to get the hell out.”
  • Alden and his uncle go to a movie, but Alden wants to go home. He thinks, “Oh God. I have to get out of here. I glance at my uncle; he’s not going to want to leave unless he’s given a damn good reason.”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • Amy attends church and “while she’s not a Jesus freak who goes out of her way to convert everyone she talks to, she makes it pretty clear the silver cross she wears around her neck is more than just jewelry.”
  • Alden attends a church service. While there, he thinks about how the churchgoers treat him. “They want to be compassionate. And they’re doing their best. What’s worse are those who look at me as if they’re grateful. Grateful that what happened to me didn’t happen to them. Thank God they didn’t lose any loved ones that day. Thank God it was my parents who died that day and not them.”
  • Alden thinks about his parents’ death. “I once read about a scientific theory that says because human consciousness consists of energy, and since energy never dies, we don’t die. That the universe we live in is part of a larger multiverse, and when our physical bodies end, our conscious energy travels to an alternative universe where we get to live our lives again, but this time we make different choices, causing our lives to move in different directions than before.”
  • When Amy is having boyfriend trouble she says, “I guess sometimes God gives us challenges.”
  • When Alden thinks about Alycia’s death, he wonders, “Had her parents spent those days waiting for news on their daughter hoping and praying she would be okay? What were they feeling now, with those hopes dashed and their prayers unanswered?”

I’m Not Dying with You Tonight

Lena and Campbell aren’t friends.

Lena has her killer style, her awesome boyfriend, and a plan. She knows she’s going to make it big. Campbell, on the other hand, is just trying to keep her head down and get through the year at her new school.

When both girls attend the Friday night football game, what neither expects is for everything to descend into sudden, mass chaos. Chaos born from violence and hate. Chaos that unexpectedly throws them together.

They aren’t friends. They hardly understand the other’s point of view. But none of that matters when the city is up in flames, and they only have each other to rely on if they’re going to survive the night.

Told from both Lena’s and Campbell’s point of view, I’m Not Dying with You Tonight will grab readers’ attention right from the start. The chapters go back and forth between each character, which allows the reader to understand both girls’ prejudices and conflicts. Campbell is completely out of her element and has never taken the time to try to understand the people in her neighborhood. On the other hand, Lena has more layers, but talks in a stereotypical manner. As the girls try to survive the riot, each girl makes assumptions based on each other’s race and learns that their assumptions are often wrong.

The fast-paced story takes a look at white privilege and racism from the girls’ point of view. When the fighting first breaks out, Campbell sees the police as helpful, but Lena is fearful of their presence. In the end, both girls face loss because of the riot. Campbell’s father’s store is completely destroyed by looters, and Lena’s cousin is injured and arrested. Although Campbell cannot understand the rioters’ actions, Lena tries to explain “when you push people to their breaking point, and they ain’t got no power, they’ll find a way to take it.”

I’m Not Dying with You Tonight explores modern conflicts in an action-packed story that will keep teens interested. The authors do not leave the reader with any solutions to the problem, but instead, give them many questions that they will want to discuss. The story will cause readers to ponder racial issues, but they will also see how they should try to get to know people that are different than themselves. The story also highlights the importance of choosing friends well. As Lena’s cousin Marcus says, “He can be an eagle, but if he chooses to flock with pigeons, he gone’ have pigeon ways.”

Sexual Content

  • Lena’s boyfriend kisses her. While saying goodbye, Lena leaned “over to hug him, and he smells as good as I expected. I almost don’t want to let go. I lift my face for him to kiss me and melt into him. His soft lips press against mine, and it feels like sun rays warming my skin.”
  • At the end of the night, Black tries to kiss Lena, but “I turn my head and his lips land on my cheek. I’m not feeling it right now.”

Violence

  • While at a school football game, two men begin fighting and start a riot, which continues until the end of the book. When the fight first begins, “The boys clash, chests bumping together, arm swinging. A boy stumbles, and his knee hits the ground. Fists batter downward, pummeling his head, his shoulders. His mouth is open in a cry I can’t hear.”
  • During the fight, Officer Kersey shows up and tries to stop two guys from fighting. One of the guys, Gabriel, goes to throw a Coke on a kid, but hits the officer instead. “Officer Tate, grabs Gabriel by the back of the shirt and yanks him up until his heels leave the ground. The collar of his shirt pulls on his neck. Gabriel’s flapping around.”
  • An officer “elbows a girl in the chest. I didn’t see what she was doing, other than running in his direction. . . He hits her, though, hard and violent, and she falls to the ground a cries out.”
  • During the fight, someone shoots a gun. A police officer is shot, but it is not described.
  • Two girls begin fighting. “They wrestle until one girl scrambles up, her bright yellow tank top now smeared with dirt. The other girl cowers on the ground. Yellow Tank windmills her arms, battering and snatching until she comes away with a fistful of hair.”
  • A car hits a woman and “she goes flying forward and crashes through a group of people in a line for the club. . . The woman’s on the ground. A few people crouch down by her, and the crowd surges . . . Someone grabs the driver and hauls him from the car, flinging him onto the street.”
  • Lena and Campbell walk into an area where there are bars and shops trying to get away from the riot. But soon a riot breaks out in the streets and “a bottle flies through the air right over me. What the hell? I barely duck in time to keep my head on.”
  • Someone “chucks a liquor bottle that smashes through the window of the SUV. . . Someone done lit a T-shirt on fire and threw it at a car.” A fire starts and soon people are looting.
  • The girls hide in a shop and watch as a man uses a cone to break car windows. “Out in the street, someone comes up behind the cone guy and wallops him. They start pushing and shoving. . . Mostly, this seems like a massive crowd fighting and destroying stuff.” The man throws the cone into a bar and grill. “Instant uproar. Tables topple. The trendy fire pit in the middle of the patio falls over. Something catches, maybe a table cloth, and with a whoosh, flames flicker to life.”
  • As the girls try to find a safe place, “people are running everywhere, getting knocked over. Someone bumps us, and we fall on a pile of people. I land on my back. My elbow drags along the pavement, skin ripping open and collecting gravel.”
  • Lena’s cousin Marcus and her boyfriend Black get in a fight. Black “charges Marcus like a bull, headfirst into Marcus’s belly. They both hit the ground. These fools are rolling around on top of each other in the middle of the street, even though people are stampeding like a game of Jumanji started. . . Marcus accidently punches me in the arm.”
  • A cop hits Marcus with a baton. “I see Marcus’s mouth open in a scream, his arms go up, swinging wildly. The baton comes down again. And again. Marcus’s body falls forward, his forehead cracks against the asphalt, so loud I can hear it over all the other noise.”
  • One of Lena’s boyfriend’s friends pulls a gun and points it at them. Black jumps towards the man with a gun. “A gunshot. Me and Campbell drop to the ground. . . Black goes for the steel. Peanut sticks him in the jaw, but Black is still able to knock the pistol away.” Black’s friends drive off without him.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • One of Lena’s friends doesn’t say goodbye because “that’s the last thing her mom said to her before she passed away from a heroin overdose.”
  • A boy who was in the concession stand was selling weed.
  • Before Campbell moved, she used to “like playing foosball in Megan’s parents’ basement and sneaking cans from her dad’s beer fridge.”
  • Lena’s cousin “went to jail because he got caught with a little weed in his car.”

Language

  • Profanity is used often. Profanity includes: ass, bitch, crap, damn, fuck, hell, holy crap, and piss.
  • “God,” “My God,” and, “Jesus” are used as exclamations occasionally.
  • Lena’s cousin warns her against dating Black. He says, “I don’t like to call a black man a nigga, but that’s a nigga.”
  • Someone calls a man a “damn cracker.”
  • While at a football game, Lena goes to the concession stand and thinks, “I damn near have to crawl over the nasty-ass counter to get the attention of the chick hanging out back there.”
  • While trying to find a ride home, Lena and Campbell pass a group of men “passing joints.”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • Lena “sends up a quick prayer” that her ride hasn’t left without her.

 

 

Six Months Later

In May, Chloe fell asleep in study hall. When she wakes up, snow covers the ground, and she can’t remember the last six months of her life. In the six months she can’t remember, her life has been transformed. Before, she was a struggling student, and college was out of her reach. She also had a hopeless crush on popular jock Blake. Now, Chloe’s SAT scores have given her a chance to attend a top college, and Blake is her boyfriend.

Instead of being disapproving, her mother smiles at her. Instead of hiding a crush, the boy of her dreams is in her arms. Instead of sharing her secrets with her best friend Maggie, Maggie won’t even look at her. Instead of feeling thrilled when Blake wraps his arms around Chloe, she feels revolted. How can Chloe figure out what happened to her? As she looks for the truth, Chloe realizes that remembering the past comes with hidden dangers.

The mystery behind Chloe’s new world will draw the reader in as they follow Chloe’s attempt to discover how she changed so much in just six months. The mystery will capture readers’ attention, but they will keep turning the pages because Chloe is a relatable character who struggles to understand who she is. Chloe and her mother have a turbulent relationship, and although Chloe wants to make her mother proud, she isn’t sure if that is even possible. Teens will understand Chloe’s parental dilemma. Even though Chloe loves her parents, her life’s path cannot be carved out by them.

Six Months Later isn’t just a great mystery, it also has hot romantic scenes. Now that Blake is Chloe’s boyfriend, she doesn’t understand why kissing him feels so wrong. And even though Chloe doesn’t ever remember talking to bad boy Adam, when she looks at him she knows that there is something there. Although a love triangle isn’t a new concept, Six Months Later perfectly weaves the love triangle into the mystery.

With relatable teen conflict, a unique mystery, and a peculiar love interest, Six Months Later will keep readers guessing until the very end. As Chloe unravels the past, she realizes that people’s motives are often complicated and misunderstood. This book will entertain as well as teach about the importance of forgiveness. Six Months Later is a fast-paced story with likable characters that will keep readers up late into the night.

Sexual Content

  • When Blake picks Chloe up for school, she forces herself “to kiss him when he leans in. It’s still stiff and awkward, but it will get better.”
  • When Blake and Chloe kiss, she tips “my head, letting him catch my lips. It’s soft and warm and so damn weird. I feel my shoulders tense, my hands like dead weights at the end of my arms.”
  • Blake and Chloe kiss, but she doesn’t think it feels right. Once when Blake kisses her, she thinks, “I’ve been kissed enough to know when someone’s doing it right. And Blake is technically doing it right, tilting my head just a little. Urging my mouth to open for him. And he’s pressing into me just enough to make things interesting, without mashing his kibbles and bits against my thigh or anything.” When Blake kisses her, Chloe thinks about Adam. “And God, it’s wrongity-wrong-wrong, but for one second, I close my eyes tight and pretend I’m with him. I think of blue eyes and a low laugh and all the things I should never think of now.”
  • After Chloe breaks up with Blake, she kisses Adam. “His lips are soft and hard together, sending electric shocks through every inch of me. I’m heavy and trembling under his kiss, my half-frozen hands fisting in the front of his shirt, soaking in his warmth. My mouth slides open with a sign, and the kiss goes on and on. . . I can’t think about a single thing outside of the feel of his arms and the taste of his mouth against mine.”
  • Adam and Chloe kiss several times. While they are talking, Adam “leans in, kissing me once, long and soft and deep enough that I almost forget where I am.”
  • At lunch, Adam and Chloe sit in his car. Adam “pulls me toward him on the bench seat. And then his lips are trailing along my jay wand I couldn’t spell distracted if someone paid me it feels so good. We kiss until we’re running dangerously close to second base during school hours.”
  • Adam tries to get Chloe to stay away from him. When he does, she tugs “him hard by the lapels of his coat because he’s so tall that going up on tiptoes isn’t going to be enough. I kiss him, and at first his lips are hard and unrelenting. . . I ignore it. . . Adam’s hands drop to my shoulders and then he’s kissing me like he’s absolutely starved for it.”
  • Because of her memory disturbance, Chloe is afraid that she might have had sex. “My stomach does an ugly barrel roll. I take a breath and press my lips together. Could I forget something like that?”
  • When Chloe tells Adam that she loves him, he “pulls me in. His kiss is sweet and lingering, his hands trailing up my back and into my hair. It pushes out all of the cold and the fear of this night, leaving me warm and strong.”
  • When Chloe’s dad stands up for Adam, she thinks, “it’s strange. My dad defending a boy I’m making out with on a regular basis is pretty much a portent of impending apocalypse.”

Violence

  • When Chloe was in elementary school, Ryan teased Chloe’s friend and Chloe hit Ryan in the nose. “I can still practically feel that moment; the sharp, shocking pain in my knuckles and the sickening feeling that went through me when Ryan’s nose spurted blood.”
  • Chloe finds her psychiatrist “slumped over the desk. There’s a giant red-black puddle beneath her, all over the pretty desk planner.”
  • A girl hits Adam. Chloe sees “something flying by my face and then I hear the sickening smack of flesh against flesh. Adam’s jaw whips back, and I cry out as I see blood bloom on his lip.”
  • When someone threatens to hurt Chloe’s friends, she grabs a syringe and explains, “I pull the cap off and lunge. I stab the closest thing I can find and push the plunger hard and fast. . . He roars and slams his hand against my arm, batting me away. The needle still dangles from his neck when he punches at me again. This time I’m faster. I dodge left.” The man is not seriously injured.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Adam’s grandmother is an alcoholic. When Chloe goes to Adam’s apartment, she sees “the row of liquor bottles” on the back counter.
  • When Adam’s grandmother answers the door, Chloe wonders “if the smell of booze coming off her is any indication of how she’s spent her evening.”
  • In the past, Adam broke into a pharmacy and stole drugs. Adam stole drugs for his grandmother because “she gets confused a lot. She had a period when she flushed her medicine down the toilet all of the time.” The insurance wouldn’t pay for more, so he stole more.
  • While making dinner together, Chloe’s dad grabs a Samuel Adams.
  • As a secret study, some teens are given a drug called benzodiazepine, which causes “vivid dreams. Increased cognitive ability. Dry mouth. Excessive thirst. Sleepwalking. Headaches. Paranoid delusions. And my personal favorite—memory disturbances.”

Language

  • Profanity is used often. Profanity includes ass, crap, bitch, damn, pissed, hell, freaking, and shit.
  • Fucking is used once. Adam says, “He sold it to me as my only way out of this shit-hole town and I bought it, Chloe. I bought it hook, line, and fucking sinker.”
  • “Oh God” and “God” are frequently used as exclamations.
  • Chloe calls someone a “twisted bastard.”
  • A girl asks Chloe, “Do you think only sluts wear red?”
  • When Chloe wakes up confused, she wonders if a boy is playing a joke on her. Then she thinks, “Blake isn’t into that kind of juvenile crap. He’s on the Bully Patrol, for God’s sake.”
  • When a boy questions Chloe, she thinks, “Oh my God, I’m like a freaking parrot. Words, Chloe. Find some and spit them the hell out!”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • Chloe says “Thank God” occasionally. For example, when she wakes up confused and finds her cell phone, she thinks, “Thank God.”
  • Chloe and Maggie have a fight and don’t talk for months. Chloe goes to Maggie’s house to talk and says, “I follow her out of the kitchen, praying my knees will stay strong and I will not start trembling like the nervous wreck that I am.”
  • Chloe refers to God occasionally. For example, when Chloe is on an airplane she thinks, “I’m flying two thousand miles, hoping to God to end up right back where I started.”

 

Shooter

Following the lives of five high school students that were trapped in a horrific high school shooting, Shooter is called the modern-day Breakfast Club. Alice is a shy, introverted writer who spends a lot of time worrying about her autistic big brother, Noah. Isabelle is the perfect egomaniac princess who seems to run the school and have a perfect life. Hogan is the giant, scary ex-football player who gave up on life after his brother’s death. Xander is the awkward student photographer who has a hard time understanding other people. These five students would never, ever be friends with each other.

But when a lockdown drill starts, they are forced to hide in a bathroom, where they realize their pasts are all intertwined in some way. Locked in a room with no way out, they gain an understanding of one another and start to care for each other. However, everything is thrown for a twist when Isabelle receives a text that the lockdown is not a drill—there is a live shooter on campus. When things cannot seem to get worse, they discover the shooter has planted a bomb on campus and plans to blow up the whole student body. They have to stop him before time runs out!

Shooter is about who the main characters really are versus how others perceive them. Isabelle seems to be a perfect princess, but after her trip to the Dominican Republic she hates how materialistic her life has become. Alice may appear like a successful writer with a great future ahead of her, but she worries about leaving her brother when she goes to college. Hogan might seem hateful and violent but deep down he still has not gotten over his brother’s death. Xander does not mean to be awkward, mean, or insensitive, and in actuality is very kind and thoughtful. The author even develops the character of Maxwell, the school shooter, by giving him a backstory and personality—rather than just leaving him as an undeveloped, evil villain. With this, Pignat teaches readers that everyone has a past that has shaped who they are and that we should get to know people before we start to judge them.

Pignat’s use of prose, poetry, text messages, journals, and homework assignments perfectly show the characters’ different points of view. Readers will find they have a lot in common with the characters as they watch them struggle to overcome their problems. However, the book is about a school shooting, a touchy subject in today’s times, and is not an easy read because of the amount of violence in the novel. However, with the engaging characters, it is a good read and may help readers better understand self-identity and social problems. Readers who enjoyed Shooter may also want to read This Is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp.

Sexual Content

  • At the party, Hogan and Izzy kissed. Hogan thinks, “Man, she was beautiful. Hair swept high in a ponytail, firelight glowing on the curve of her neck. Her face warm. And her eyes dark and sparkling as she smiled. I just wanted to kiss her—and the next thing, I did. Isabelle Parks—the girl every guy wanted.”
  • Izzy finds out that her boyfriend, Darren Greene, is cheating on her when she sees an Instagram photo of him making out with her best friend Bri. In the Instagram photo, “he has her up against the doorframe, one hand pulling up her shirt, the other hiking up her leg while she runs her fingers through his hair.”
  • Xander helps Maxwell with one of his pranks. They move Mr. Quigley’s lab skeleton into a sexual position where it was jerking off with a pretend penis made out of a graduated cylinder.

Violence

  • When Isabelle finds Hogan on top of Alice, trying to help with after she bumped her head, Isabelle screams “get off of her! Get off of her right now, you perv!” Isabelle then thrusts her knee hard into his side.
  • As Alice and Hogan leave the safety of the bathroom, an explosive “BANG-BANG-BANGBANG!” causes everyone to cower in fear. The shooter is right outside the bathroom door.
  • In the locker room, Hogan and his brother, Randy, made fun of each other for playing badly during the game. The two brothers wrestle and fight just like they had when they were little kids. Hogan swept Randy’s legs out from under him, and Randy fell back off the bench, back into the lockers, slamming his head against the corner of the one Hogan had left open. “A dark gash on the side of his head oozed red. It ran into a sticky puddle that spilled wider and wider with every second.” Randy dies. The fight takes place over two pages.
  • Noah freaks out from being confined to the bathroom too long. “Like a tornado of fists and spit as his arms windmill around him like crazy propellers. Alice tries to step back, but there isn’t anywhere else to go. The broom wedges under the sink and Noah’s next swing catches her smack in the face, sending her staggering back, and she falls to the ground.” Hogan tackles Noah to the ground where he stops fighting. The scene takes place over two pages.
  • Xander shoots Hogan with a paintball gun, and Noah hits Xander in the head with his broom handle to prevent him from shooting Isabelle and Alice.
  • Maxwell is planting a bomb and is going to use a fake fire to lure everyone to the atrium where he will detonate it. The group of kids discovers Maxwell’s outline for Operation Resolution. It’s a drawing where “the ground isn’t ground exactly, but arms, legs, severed heads with Xs for eyes. Pieces in puddles. Each of them named.”
  • The school police officer grabs Hogan and “wrenches my arms back in some cop-hold.”
  • While everyone is gathered in the atrium, Maxwell uses a drone and paintball gun to shoot people. “CRACK-CRACK-CRACK!” People are hysterical.
  • The police surround Noah who has a broom handle in his hand. The police shoot at Noah, but Hogan pushes him out of the way and takes the bullet himself. Alice puts pressure against the wound. After being shot, Hogan is wounded and “a whole five inches below his collarbone bubbles and oozes a dark red that puddles beside him. Blood–not pain.”
  • Xander finds the bomb suspended on some wires above the atrium. When he climbs on the wire to get it, Maxwell’s drone swats at him, trying to knock him off. Maxwell disables the bomb but when he does the wire snaps. “There is no blast. Just a sickening—CRACK!—as Xander” crashes to the floor.
  • After Maxwell’s bomb is defused, Maxwell kills himself. “On the second floor, in the room above the mural, a light flashes as one final shot rings out. Then all is silent.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Isabelle asked if a boy drugged Alice with “roofies or something?”
  • Hogan smokes in the bathroom. “The Hulk yanks off his furry mitt and plucks the smoking cigarette left balanced on the edge of the porcelain urinal.”
  • Isabelle suggests that the secretaries are “probably ‘hiding’ in the staff room cracking open their TGIF wine.”
  • Xander’s “mom’s Matinée cigarette” started the house fire. Xander was woken up by the fire alarm and managed to save some of his mom’s important things such as “her big red purse, her near-empty bottle of Jackson-Triggs wine, her pack of Matinée cigarettes.”

Language

  • Profanity is used frequently. Profanity includes: hell, ass, crap, God, bastard, numbnuts, crotch, and dick.
  • Hogan says its “hotter than hell” in the mascot suit.
  • When Hogan starts to smoke, Isabelle asks, “Still the badass, Hogan?” Hogan replies, “Still the bitch, Izzy?”
  • Hogan doesn’t want to go to the “dumbass pep rally” and is thankful for the lockdown.
  • Hogan says he is “done with that crap. Just so you know” in reference to his smoking.
  • After Hogan’s brother’s death, Coach Dufour tries to kick Hogan “in the ass a few times” in order to get Hogan back in shape.
  • Izzy looks at Hogan with a face that says “God, you’re an idiot.”
  • Izzy says Hogan’s been “an angry ass since Randy died.”
  • Hogan thinks he is a “stone-cold bastard” for not crying over his own brother’s death.
  • On one of Xander’s missions with Maxwell, Maxwell holds one of his smoke bombs “against his crotch and told me to check out his foil dick.”
  • Hogan asks the school shooter, “What do you numbnuts have planned?”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • Xander knows that “stealing and lying is wrong. That’s even in the Bible.”

by Matthew Perkey

Shatter Me

Juliette has always been an outcast. She doesn’t understand why she is different; she just knows her touch is fatal. After being locked in solitary confinement for 264 days, Juliette is shocked when she gets a new cellmate—a boy. Adam wants to be Juliette’s friend, but she doesn’t know if she can trust him. Then, the Reestablishment takes both her and Adam to a new facility.

The Reestablishment has plans for Juliette. Plans to use her as a weapon. Juliette doesn’t want to hurt anyone. Even though Juliette is still a prisoner, she is discovering the strength to fight back. She wants to have a future. With Adam by her side, Juliette plans her escape. When the time is right, will Juliette be able to escape the Reestablishment? Will Adam lead her to a better life, or does he have plans to betray her?

old from Juliette’s point of view, the story focuses on her thoughts and feelings. However, her thought process is often hard to understand as her thoughts are often described using figurative language. There is also no clear transition between her thoughts and what is actually happening in the story, meaning readers may have to go back and reread some scenes to make sure they understand the text.

The story has an interesting premise, but readers will have a difficult time suspending their disbelief. The story never explains why Juliette’s touch is lethal. Since Juliette’s touch is only lethal when her skin touches someone else’s skin, it is hard to imagine that no one has given Juliette a pair of gloves. Instead of helping Juliet protect others, her parents moved around after each disaster. When Juliette accidentally causes the death of a little boy, she is sent to prison and placed in an isolation cell. Once she is placed in the care of the Reestablishment, her main captor always wears gloves to protect himself. If her captor came up with the simple solution of gloves, why didn’t anyone else?

Juliette soon discovers that both Adam and her captor are immune to her touch. Since Juliette revels in the ability to simply touch another person, Juliette and Adam share steamy kisses between the high-action scenes. Although the plot is hard to believe, fans of dystopian stories will enjoy the unique characters as well as the battle of good versus evil. Full of suspense and surprises, Shatter Me is an action-packed story with plenty of steamy scenes. Readers will want to jump into the next book, Ignite Me, to see if Juliette finds freedom or just a different type of prison.

Sexual Content

  • When Adam holds Juliette, she thinks, “I wish I knew the taste of his lips.”
  • While Adam and Juliette are alone, he grabs her and puts her against the wall. Juliette is “trembling everywhere and he’s so gentle, so careful, touching me like I’m made of porcelain and I want to shatter. He’s running his hands down my body running his eyes across my face running laps with his heart and I’m running marathons with my mind. Everything is on fire. . . suddenly his lips are on my neck and I’m gasping and dying and clutching at his arms and he’s touching me touching me touching me and I’m thunder and lightning. . . ” The scene is described over two pages.
  • Adam tells Juliette that he loves her. Then, “his nose is touching my nose, his lips one breath away, his eyes devouring me already and I’m a puddle with no arms and no legs. . . His hands at my waist, gripping my hips, his legs flush against my own, his chest overpowering me with strength, his frame built by bricks of desire. . . He’s everywhere up my back and over my arms and suddenly he’s kissing me harder, deeper, with a fervent urgency that I’ve never known before.”
  • As Adam and Juliette kiss, she slips “my hands under his shirt and he chokes on a moan that turns into a kiss that needs me and wants me and has to have me so desperately it’s like the most acute form of torture. His weight is pressed into mine, on top of mine, infinite points of feeling . . . his lips are falling down my shirt and I don’t understand why I need to wear clothes anymore. . .” Their embrace is interrupted.
  • When Adam kisses Juliette, she gasps “and he’s kissing me, deep and powerful and unrestrained. His arms around my back, dipping my body until I’m practically horizontal. . .”
  • After Adam and Juliette escape, they get to a safe place and Juliette asks Adam to touch her. Then, “my face is in his hands and my lips are at his lips and he’s kissing me. . . His body is almost on top of mine, one hand in my hair, the other feeling its way down my silhouette, slipping behind my knee to pull me closer, higher, tighter. . . He takes my hands and press them against his chest, guiding my fingers as they trail down the length of his torso before his lips meet mine again and again. . . His hands slip under my shirt, skirting my sides, touching me like he’s never dared to before, and my top is nearly over my head when a door squeaks open. We both freeze.” The scene is described over two pages.
  • One of Adam’s friends tries to get him to move to a safer location. When Adam doesn’t hurry, the man shouts, “I mean, shit, man, I don’t think there’s ever a bad time to get naked, but now is probably not the best time for a nooner. So unless you want to get killed, I suggest you get your ass out here.”
  • When soldiers capture Juliette, a man grabs her, and “his lips touch my skin and I actually whimper.” The man tells her, “God I’d love to just take a bite out of you.” Juliette pretends she likes the man’s touch so she can get his gun. The man’s “hands are exploring my body, slipping down my back to feel the form of my figure and it’s all I can do to keep from doing something reckless. . . And he kisses me. Hungrily. Desperately. Eager to break me open and taste me. . . I pull him closer, grab a fistful of his jacket and kiss him as hard as I can, my fingers already attempting to release the first of his buttons. Warner grips my hips and allows his hands to conquer my body.” When Juliette has the opportunity, she shoots him. The scene is described over three pages.
  • When Adam is beaten, Juliette tells him to get better because “I’m going to memorize every inch of your body with my lips.”
  • When Adam heals from his injuries, he wants to be alone with Juliette. When everyone leaves, Adam leans “in and I’m leaning in until I’m practically on top of him and he’s slipping me into his arms and kissing me with a new kind of desperation . . . His hands are threaded in my hair, his lips so soft and urgent against mine. . .” Adam “kisses my bottom lip. Bites it for just a second.” The scene is described over a page.

Violence

  • Juliette thinks back to when the Reestablishment was taking over the country. She remembers “the bad memories. . . Protests. Rallies. Screams for survival. I see women and children starving to death, homes destroyed and buried in rubble, the countryside a burnt landscape, its only fruit the rotting flesh of casualties. I see dead dead dead red and burgundy and maroon and the richest shade of your mother’s favorite lipstick all smeared into the earth.”
  • While in her cell room, guards come in and begin shouting. While Juliette stands there doing nothing, a guard “slams the butt of his gun into my back and my knees crack as they hit the floor. I finally taste oxygen and a side of blood. . . A steel-toed boot kicks me in the ribs, fast, hard, hollow.” The guards shove a gun into Juliette’s cellmate’s face. The guards make the two walk to a new destination. During the trip, Juliette thinks, “I don’t know how long I’ve been walking before another blow to my back cripples me.” When Juliette falls down, “there’s another heavy boot pressed into my back and I can’t lift my head to distinguish who’s speaking to me.”
  • A soldier is accused of “fraternizing with civilians believed to be rebel party members. He has stolen food and supplies from storage units. . .” When the soldier doesn’t deny the accusations, a man “takes a short breath. Licks his lips. And shoots him in the forehead.” The man’s “limbs are bent at odd angles on the cold, concrete floor. Blood is pooling around him and still no one moves.”
  • When Adam was younger, his drunk father took him to school. Juliette watched “a father slap his 8-year-old son in the face. I watched Adam fall to the floor and I stood there motionless as he was kicked repeatedly in the ribs.” While hitting him, Adam’s father screamed, “It’s your fault, you worthless piece of shit.”
  • In order to understand Juliette’s power, a man puts a toddler in a room that has spikes that come through the floor. In order to save the boy, Juliette is forced to touch him. When she does, “his screams pierce through me like I’m being shot to death, one bullet for every second. He’s clawing at my arms, my chest, kicking my body as hard as he can, crying out in agony until the pain paralyzes him.” After the test, Juliette gets angry. “I catapult through the concrete walls. I crush the glass with 10 fingers.” The test is described over four pages.
  • In order to escape, Adam slams “the butt of his gun into Warner’s head. Warner’s gun misfires and Adam catches his arm and twists his wrist until his grip on the weapon wavers. I grab the gun from Warner’s limp hand and slam the butt of it into his face. . .” During the fight, “Adam slams his knee into Warner’s spine. Warner falls to the floor with a muffled crack and a sharp intake of breath.” After Warner is tied up, Juliette and Adam are able to escape.
  • A man tells Adam, “No one should have to wake up in the morning and find dead bodies in their living room, but shit happens. We deal with it, and we find a way to survive.” As the man continues to talk, Adam gets angry and presses “a gun to his forehead.”
  • As Adam, Juliette, and others flee from the Reestablishment, “there are children everywhere, bright colors of small bodies suddenly screaming at our approaches. . . Adam pushes me to the ground just as a bullet flies past my head. He shoots down another door toward another exit, and we run through the ruins towards another exit, trapped in the maze of what used to be a clothing store. Gunshots and footsteps are close behind. . . Adam is breathing hard. He grips the gun in his hand. Pops his head out for a split second and fires. Someone falls to the floor, screaming.” Several people are killed and Adam is captured.
  • Juliette follows a trail of blood and finds Adam, who is “hanging from bound wrists, shirtless, bloodied, and bruised everywhere. His head is bent, his neck limp, his left leg drenched in blood despite the tourniquet wrapped around his thigh. . . His wrists are rubbed raw, bleeding, his body pounded into one piece of pain, his leg bloodied through with a bullet.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • In the past, Adam’s father drove drunk.
  • A man gives Adam’s ten-year-old brother a sleeping pill. The man doesn’t want the boy to see Adam being chased by the Reestablishment.
  • When Juliette escapes, someone gives her a sedative to help her get over her shock. Later, Adam is also given a sedative to help him recover.

Language

  • Profanity is used often. Towards the end of the book, the profanity ramps up and appears on almost every page. Profanity includes ass, asshole, bullshit, bastards, crap, damn, goddamn, hell, holy shit, and shit.
  • “Oh God,” “God,” and, “Jesus” are used as exclamations often.
  • After Adam treats Juliette badly, he says, “I’m sorry I’m such an asshole.” He also tells her, “I was a jerk yesterday. I treated you like crap and I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.”
  • Someone calls Adam a “sick bastard.”
  • When a man sees Adam and Juliette kissing, he says, “Son of a motherless goat—“
  • One of Adam’s friends refers to Juliette as a “psycho chick.”
  • A man slept in a shed; he described that it “was weird. Crazy shit growing in the place. I almost ate something I thought was fruit before I realized it smelled like ass.”

Supernatural

  • When Juliet touches someone, she drains the life out of them.9 When a guard touches her, “I can hear his anguish, I can feel the power pouring out of his body, I can hear his heart beating in my ears and my head is spinning with the rush of adrenaline fortifying my being. . . My skin is pulsing with someone else’s life and I don’t hate it.” Juliette breaks the connection before the guard is seriously injured.
  • In the past, Juliette tried to help a little boy, but she “killed a little boy in a grocery store simply by helping him to his feet.”
  • Somehow Juliette was able to punch through a steel door. Her “fist flies through 12 inches of steel like it’s made of butter.”
  • Juliette goes to a compound where she meets a man who can move things with his mind. There is also a man who tells her, “Sometimes I electrocute people by accident” and another who is really flexible. He “loops one arm around his waist. Twice.”
  • At the compound, two women are healers—one heals the physical body and the other heals emotional wounds. Yet another person can “blend into the background of any space. Shift myself to match my surroundings.”

Spiritual Content

  • When in a difficult situation, Juliette “prays to God I’m making the right decision.”

The Ruins of Gorlan

Will doesn’t know who his father is, but he has always believed that his father was a knight who died in battle. Will wants to join Battleschool and be like his father. But when it’s time for the fifteen-year-old to get accepted as an apprentice, Will is disappointed that his request to join Battleschool is denied.

Will’s only choice is to become a Ranger’s apprentice. The Rangers’ shadowy ways have always made Will nervous. Will doesn’t understand that Rangers are the protectors of the kingdom who fight the battles before the battles reach the people. Halt, a gruff Ranger, begins to train Will, but neither realizes that a large battle is brewing. The exiled Morgarath, Lord of the Mountains of Rain and Night, is gathering his forces for an attack on the kingdom. This time, Morgarath is prepared to win at all costs.

The Ruins of Gorlan paints a vivid and realistic picture of medieval times. As a Ranger’s apprentice, Will learns how to blend into the background in order to gain information; he also learns how to defend himself. Horace, a Battleschool student, is the target of intense bullying. Even though he is training to become a knight and defend the kingdom, Horace falsely believes that bullying is part of Battleschool’s initiation process. The two apprentices’ friendship gradually changes. As the boys begin to understand each other, their relationship evolves into a strong friendship. The story uses a third-person omniscient point of view to focus on Will’s and Horace’s thought processes, which allows the reader to understand their actions.

 The Ruins of Gorlan has many positive aspects: well-developed characters, a believable setting, and realistic, exciting conflicts. As the apprentices learn new skills, the reader comes to understand the importance of hard work, perseverance, loyalty, and honor. The male friendships that are forged give the reader insight into the importance of respecting others and never gloating. Because of their training, both Will and Horace learn how to develop their individual strengths. In the end, Will sets his childhood dream aside because he realizes that becoming a Ranger will bring him more happiness and satisfaction.

The story’s long descriptive scenes and advanced vocabulary such as quartering, gyrate, tumult, and debilitating, make The Ruins of Gorlan perfect for strong readers. Full of action, adventure, and boy-bonding, the story will keep the reader’s attention until the very end. With fantastical monsters, honorable characters, and an epic battle at the end, The Ruins of Gorland tells an engaging story while teaching that one should never “judge a man by his position in life.”

Sexual Content

  • Someone retells a story about one of the wards letting rabbits loose in someone’s study. The person says it was disruptive because, there was “a male and a female rabbit, my lord, if you take my meaning. . . And as I said, my lord, it was spring.”
  • A boy meanly tells Horace, “Baby’s a Ward brat. Mummy ran off with a riverboat sailor.”
  • While out with his former ward mates, a girl kisses Will. “Her lips on his were incredibly, indescribably soft. Hours later before he finally feel asleep, he could still feel them.”

Violence

  • As part of the world-building, an old battle is described. The armies fought, and “with attack and counterattack and massive loss of life. The Slipsunder was a shallow river, but its treacherous reaches of quicksand and soft mud had formed an impossible barrier. . .” The losing army retreated.
  • When the cook saw Will steal some cakes, the cook hit him “on the head with his wooden spoon. Will grinned and rubbed his head thoughtfully. He could still hear the CRACK! made by the spoon hitting his head.”
  • Three bullies force Horace to do pushups. As one of the boys insults him, “His foot shoved viciously into Horace’s back, siding him sprawling on the floor.”
  • Horace becomes angry and “he turned back to George and gave him a heavy shove in the chest.” Then Will tricks Horace into riding a horse. The horse quickly bucks him off and then the two boys fight. “In an instant, Horace scrambled to his feet, his face dark with rage. He looked around, saw a fallen branch from the apple tree and grabbed it, brandishing it over his head as he rushed at Tug [the horse].” When Horace again tries to hit Tug, “Will was on him. He landed on Horace’s back and his weight and the force of his leap drove them both to the ground. They rolled there grappling with each other, each trying to gain an advantage. . . Blood ran down the bigger boy’s face. Will’s arms were hard and well muscled after his three months’ training with Halt. . .[Horace] drove a fist into Will’s stomach and Will gasped as the air was driven out of him.” An adult finally breaks up the fight.
  • A wild boar attacks “with an infuriated scream, he threw off one of the dogs that still clung to him, paused a moment, then charged at the hunters with blinding speed.” A knight was ready with his spear. “The boar had no chance to turn. His own rush carried him onto the spear head. He plunged upward, screaming in pain and fury, trying to dislodge the killing piece of steal. . . With one last screaming roar, the huge boar toppled sideways and lay dead.”
  • After the boar is dead, another one attacks. Will shoots arrows at it. “The arrows stuck out of the boar’s thick hide like needles in a pin cushion. They did no serious harm, but the pain of them burned through the animal like a hot knife.” The boar goes after Will. “Screaming in fury, the huge animal spun in its tracks, skidding in the snow, and came at him again. . . The boar came at a trot, fury in its red eyes, tusks slashing from side to side, its hot breath steaming in the freezing winter air.” Will’s horse, Tug, goes after the boar. “Tug’s hooves caught the pig n the ribs and, with all the force of the pony’s upper legs behind it, sent the boar rolling sideways in the snow.” Finally, Halt shoots an arrow at the boar. “The boar reared up in midstride, twisting in sudden agony, and fell, dead as a stone, in the snow.” The scene is described over three pages.
  • The three bullies are upset that Horace “made a fool of the entire Battleschool” because Will had to help him during the boar hunt. “Jerome shoved him against the shoulder as he spoke, pushing him back against the rough stone of the wall.” One of the boys puts a “heavy hessian sack over Horace’s head before he could resist, pulling a drawcord tight so that he was contained from the wait up, blinded and helpless.” The bullies continue to hit Horace. “On and on it went as he writhed on the ground, trying in vain to escape the blows. . . they continued until, gradually, mercifully, he fell still, semiconscious. . . He ached and hurt viciously in every part of his body.” The scene is described over two pages.
  • After the bullies beat up Horace, they go to find Will. They tried to put a sock over Will’s head, but Will “dived forward toward Alda, rolling in a somersault that took him under the sack, then letting his legs sweep around, scything Alda’s legs from under him so that the bigger boy went sprawling. . . Jerome brought his cane around in a ringing crack across the back of his shoulders. With a cry of pain and shock, Will staggered forward, as Bryn now brought his cane around and hit him across the side. . . Instantly, the three Battleschool apprentices crowded forward, ringing him, trapping him between them, the heavy canes raised to continue the beating.” Horace appears to help Will.
  • Halt sees the boys fighting and stops the fight. However, one of the bullies, Alda, is defiant and disrespectful to Halt. Alda “felt a searing pain as Halt stamped backward with the edge of his boot, catching the apprentice’s foot between the arch and ankle and driving into it. As Alda doubled over to clasp his injured foot, the Ranger pivoted on his left heel and his right elbow slammed upward into Alda’s nose, jerking him upright again and sending him sprawling back, eyes streaming with the pain. . . Halt’s larger knife, razor edged and needle pointed, was just under his chin, pressing lightly into the soft flesh of this throat. . . The knife pricked a little harder against his throat and he felt a warm trickle of blood sliding down under his collar.”
  • After Halt takes care of Alda, he makes the other two bullies face Horace, individually. “Then, as he [Horace] blocked Bryn’s fourth stroke, he flicked his wooden blade down the length of the other boy’s cane in the instant before the two weapons disengaged. There was no crosspiece to protect Bryn’s hand from the movement and the hardwood drill sword slammed painfully into his finger. With a cry of agony, he dropped the heavy stick, leaping back and wringing his injured hand painful under his arm.” When Bryn tries to stop fighting, Hale says “If he’s going to be a baby, I suppose you’ll just have to paddle him.” Horace likes the idea and, “then he proceeded to whack the older boy’s backside with the flat of the drill sword, over and over again, following him around the clearing as Bryn tried to pull away from the remorseless punishment.”
  • Next, Horace faces Jerome. “Jerome was driven back by a whirlwind of forehands, backhands, side and overhead cuts. He managed to block some of the stokes, but the blistering speed of Horace’s attack defeated him. Blows rained on his shins, elbows, and shoulders almost at will.” When Jerome drops to the ground, and covers his head, “his backside was raised invitingly in the air. . .” Will kicks him in the butt.
  • Halt then throws the cane to the injured bully, Alda. During the fight, Alda drops his weapon and “stood defenseless before Horace.” Horace then hits Alda in the jaw. “Will’s eyes widened slightly as Alda came off his feet and hurtled backward, to come crashing down in the cold snow beside his two friends.” The bullies are exiled from the fief. The bullying and fighting scenes are described over 10 pages.
  • A group of men which includes Will, travel to find Halt and the Kalkara. When they see the creature, it has a “cluster of arrows that protruded from its chest. There must have been eight of them, all placed within a hand’s breadth from each other.” The injured Kalkara went after the men. “The sharp iron penetrated, smashing through the matted hair. The force of the charge drove the Kalkara from its feet and hurled it backward, into the flames of the fire behind it. . . Then there was a blinding flash, and a pillar of red flame that reached ten meters into the night sky. And quite simply, the Kalkara disappeared.”
  • Halt was injured and his “leg, numb where the Kalkara had clawed him, was beginning to throb painfully and he could feel the blood seeping past the rough bandage he had thrown around it. . . He was wounded and unarmed. His bow was gone, smashed in that first terrifying charge when he had fired arrow after arrow into the first of the two monsters.”
  • Halt comes out of his hiding place to warn the men about the Kalkara. Halt “brought his knife hand up, back and forward in one smooth, instinctive memory throw, seeing the target moving in his mind’s eye, mentally aligning the throw and the spin of the knife. . . It took the Kalkara in its right eye and the beast screamed in pain and fury as it stopped to clutch at the sudden lance of agony that began in its eye and seared all the way to the pain sensors of its brain.” As Halt ran towards the men, “screaming a blood curling challenge, it leapt after him. . . The massive arm swung, catching Halt a glancing blow and sending him rolling forward, unconscious.” The baron steps between the beast and Halt, but the monster “slammed its talons into Arald’s exposed back before he could recover from the stroke. . . Arald grunted in pain and surprise as the force of the blow drove him to his knees. . . blood streaming from half a dozen deep slashes in his back.”
  • Will dips an arrow in a flammable substance, sets it on fire, then shoots the Kalkara. “The monster beat at the flames on its chest with its paws but that served only to spread the fires to its arms. There was a sudden rush of red flame and in seconds the Kalkara was engulfed, burring from head to toe, rushing blindly in circles in a vain attempt to escape. . . Then the screaming stopped and the creature was dead.” The fight with the Kalkara is described over 10 pages.
  • Halt describes the battle that Will’s father fought in. Will’s father “killed one [creature] with the spear, then another smashed the head of the spear, leaving Daniel with only a spear shaft. So he used it like a quarterstaff and knocked down the others—left, right! Just like that!”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • While cooking, “a generous dash of red wine” was added to the vegetables.
  • While talking to Sir Rodney, “Karel reached across and poured himself another tankard from the jug of beer that was on the table between them. . . He finished the last of his beer in two quick drafts. . .”

Language

  • Three boys continuously bully Horace and call him “baby.”
  • Damn is used eight times. Halt says that Will is “a damn good shot already.” However, most of the time damn is used to describe the Kalkara as the “damn thing.”
  • When a boy compliments Jenny, she tells him, “You are a complete idiot.”
  • When Will shows up at the castle with an urgent message, the men-at-arms, stop him from entering. When Sir Rodney sees this, he yells, “What the hell do you think you’re doing, you idiot! Don’t you recognize a King’s Ranger when you see one?”
  • When he hears a Kalkara’s “hellish” scream, the baron exclaims, “Good God, what is that?”
  • When the Kalkara bursts into flame, someone asks, “What the devil was that?”

Supernatural

  • A group of Kalkara are on the hunt. Halt describes them. “Think about a creature somewhere between an ape and a bear, that walks upright, and you’ll have an idea of what a Kalkara looks like.” The creature has red eyes and “if you look into its eyes, you are frozen helpless—the way a snake freezes a bird with its gaze before it kills it.”

Spiritual Content

  • When trade masters were choosing new apprentices, Will prayed “that one of them would relent and accept him.”

 

Susanna’s Midnight Ride

Sixteen-year-old Susanna Bolling is struggling to cope with the realities of the American Revolution. She, along with her mother, are the sole residents and operators of their tobacco plantation (and the slaves who work it). Following the death of Susanna’s father and her older brothers’ entry into the American army, Susanna and her mother rely on each other for emotional support and companionship.

Susanna and her mother act as each other’s rock as they are tasked with running a plantation and supporting themselves. Susanna eventually braves the dangers associated with espionage and courageously sneaks into the woods. Alone in the middle of the night, Susanne goes to warn the American Army and General Lafayette of British movements and plans. She braves miles of deep forest riddled with dangerous branches and rattlesnakes. She reaches the American camp and meets with the general but gets desperately lost on the way back home. Is there any way Susanna will be able to sneak back home unnoticed? Will she be captured by the British soldiers?

Susanna’s Midnight Ride is engaging because the reader is encouraged to relate to Susanna and put themselves in her shoes. The reader is left to wonder if they would have the strength to support their mother in a time of crisis or the courage to risk everything to do the right thing. The author characterizes Susanna in a likable and relatable way, so that the readers are empowered to believe that courageous acts are possible for anyone with dedication and loyalty. Susanna’s story shows that fear does not determine if someone is a hero or a coward. Susanna is absolutely terrified to go on her journey but is so determined to help the American cause that she goes into the night regardless.

Susanna’s Midnight Ride is based on historical fact, with a few embellishments, exclusions, and adjustments to make this story suitable for a younger audience. The characters and plot are well developed and highly relatable, and the short chapters will encourage reluctant readers. McNamee creates an engaging story; however, some sections will challenge growing readers. For example, some of the phrases used by General Lafayette are in French, and the reader must use context clues to fully understand his meaning.

The negative representation of slaves on the Bolling plantation may upset readers. An older slave shouts and berates a younger slave for desiring freedom and states, “If I got to be a slave and mu children got to be slaves, I want to be their slave!” This storyline ends as over time the younger slave returns to the Bolling Plantation happily, saying that, “I done made a big mistake leaving the plantation.”

Susanna’s experiences highlight the importance of determination and loyalty. McNamee utilizes a real person’s story to realistically illustrate these lessons. Susanna’s Midnight Ride is a suspenseful and highly engaging story that will encourage readers to learn more about history and be confident when making difficult choices.

Sexual Content

  • Susanna’s cousin often speaks about handsome men and often whines about the “cluster of handsome lads” who she could marry “if it weren’t for this dreadful war.”
  • Susanna describes a prospective suitor, Joseph, who was killed during the war. Susanna thinks, they would have had “lovely red-haired children.”
  • Susanna once flirted with the British soldiers occupying her home and chides herself for “acting as coquettish” as her flirtatious cousin.

Violence

  • Following the death of her son, Joseph’s mother describes her fear that he may have been “dumped into a mass grave” and that she had “nightmares of butchered boys piled in together and left to rot.”
  • Susanna briefly describes the circumstances of the “tragic loss” of her older sister and baby niece. Her sister dies in childbirth “when a baby’s head is too large to pass, there is precious little even the best doctor can do.”
  • A “terrible disease” killed Susanna’s younger sister and left “Mother disfigured with pock-marks all over her face.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Susanna’s mother plots to distract the soldiers by “topping off their drinks again and doling out another round of shots.” She did this so that “they shall sleep like the dead tonight.”

Language

  • Profanity is used sparingly. Profanity includes poppycock, bugger, arse, darn, rubbish, drat, bloody. Each word is used once or twice.
  • The phrases “god awful” and “godforsaken” are used frequently, around 20 times in total.
  • The following words are used as insults on rare occasions: maggot, ninny, tomboy, swine, no-good bum, loggerhead, locust, brute.
  • The words “negro” and “negroes” are used at least once per chapter as characters describe enslaved people.

Supernatural/Spiritual Content.

  • Religious references are almost constant, and are frequently positive or celebratory. For example, during the spinning bee, Susanna proclaims, “God is surely smiling down on his daughters of Liberty today.”
  • McNamee also refers to the Grim Reaper a handful of times. For example, Susanna describes her family’s luck, “The Grim Reaper operates by a code of fairness, the ultimate fallacy. Death follows no rules at all.”
  • There are also constant references to “souls” throughout the story. For example, an older man describes all of the “lost souls” resulting from the war.

by Meg Oshea

 

 

 

Scorch Dragons

After a battle between Ice Wolves and Scorch Dragons, Anders and his twin sister have finally been reunited. But some still doubt that the twins are truly siblings. While the dragons have embraced Rayna, many want the wolves Anders and Lisabeth to leave the mountain stronghold of Drekhelm, because dragons think all wolves are a threat.

For now, Lief, the leader of the dragons, has promised to keep the two wolves safe. But when the wolf pack begins to use the Snowstone, the temperature starts to drop all over Vallen. With the use of the Snowstone, the wolves can weaken the dragons before they attack. Every dragon is in danger. As the dragons debate on the best course of action, Anders and his friends decide they must act in the hopes of bringing peace.

Anders enlists the help of a few new flame-breathing friends to stop the wolves’ plan of attack. Together the group must go on a quest to find the pieces of the Sun Scepter, the only artifact that can counteract the Snowstone. In the search for the Sun Scepter, Anders and his friends will not only have to hunt for clues, but they must also keep the dragons in the dark. The only way to bring peace is to find the Sun Scepter, but keep it out of the dragons’ hands. Can Anders and his friends find the Sun Scepter and use it to stop the wolves? Or will they cause the next great battle?

The second book in the Elemental series still focuses on Anders but adds new, interesting characters. As Anders learns about the dragons’ world, he discovers that the stories of the dragons were not completely true. Instead, the wolves’ stories only focused on facts that portrayed the Ice Wolves in a positive light, and they left out important information that would have helped people understand why the dragons “attacked.” Throughout the story, Anders and his friends learn to put away past misconceptions and work together for the good of all—dragons and wolves.

Scorch Dragons introduces the dragon’s world and gives Anders a new perspective. However, much of the story focuses on Anders and Rayna proving that they are truly siblings and using this knowledge to find the pieces of the Sun Scepter, which has been hidden in four different places. The search lacks suspense due to overly long descriptions of scenery as well as the easy manner in which the pieces are found.

Readers who enjoyed Ice Wolves will already have a connection with the characters and will want to know the outcome. Because of the advanced vocabulary, long descriptions, and a large cast of characters, Scorch Dragons is best suited for strong readers. This character-driven story shows how unlikely friends can work together for the good of all. Although the story ends with an epic battle between the Ice Wolves and the Scorch Dragons, readers will have to work to make it through the slower middle part of the story. Still, fantasy fans will love flying into a book where dragons, wolves, and magic meld in a world of constant danger.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • Anders, Rayna, and their friends take the Sun Scepter to Holbard. The dragons try to stop them and throw “pure white dragonfire” at the group. Ander uses the Sun Septer and “a wave of warmth washed over him like a real wave of water, sending all the dragons scrambling to stay steady.” The dragons follow the group into town when suddenly “ice spears were flying up from the walls, along with huge clouds of cold cast by the most powerful of the wolves, and the dragons were staggering, tossed about by the cold wind.”
  • When the wolves use the Snowstone, everything freezes. The cold “reached the harbor, and icy fingers snaked out into the water, freezing the surface solid and squeezing the hulls of the ships until they began to crack with bang Anders could hear even above the city.”
  • During a battle, the Sun Scepter gives of a wave of heat. “A huge crack was opening up right through the middle of Holbart, running straight through the courtyard and outbuildings of Ulfar Academy itself! Stonework crumbled, walls collapsed, and a jagged trench cut the ground in two.”
  • During the battle, Leif tried to protect the students but “a sudden volley of ice spears soared toward Ellukka and Rayna, it was Valerius who threw himself into their path to protect his daughter, roaring his defiance. Ellukka shrieked as a wave of gray cold started at her father’s foreleg, racing along his side. One wing paralyzed, he began to fall, fall, fall toward the ground.” Other dragons come to help Valerius.
  • During the final battle, both Anders and Rayna use icefire. “Flames billowed out, consuming the dragons’ fire and the wolves’ ice, swallowing them whole before they could touch the twins.” The epic battle is described over 20 pages. Most of the destruction happens to buildings, and injuries are not described.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • Leif wants to see if Rayne and Anders are truly siblings. He brings a purse to Anders and tells him the purse “will bond to the next person who touches it. . . It will require just the smallest drop of blood. Artifacts linked to family often do, among others. The blood of the most powerful wolves and dragon can achieve a great deal.” After Anders puts blood on the clasp, the purse will only open to those who are related to him. As Rayna takes the purse, Leif tells her, “If it doesn’t recognize you, it will scream an alarm. If it opens, that’s all we need to know.”
  • One of the characters in Ice Wolves explains how Elementals change. “Essence is the magic that’s found all around us. In nature, in the earth itself. When we transform from human to wolf, we channel it instinctively so we can make the change…Elementals always have gifts linked to nature, because nature is where we find the essence that gives us our power.”
  • In the past, dragons and wolves crafted magical objects with runes. Many of the objects are magical and the “runes are what channeled the essence—the power that came from nature, from the earth itself—into artifacts.”
  • Anders discovers that he can create icefire—blue-and-silver fire. When he uses the fire, “the white fire and the ice spear both vanished into nothing as they connected with his blue-and-silver flames.”
  • Anders and Rayna’s mother was rumored to have a thunder lion as a father. Thunder lions “are elementals who control the wind and air.”
  • One of the wolves has a mirror that “allows two-way communication.”
  • Anders and Rayne are given a map that used to be their mother’s. When Rayna puts blood on the compass of the map, “the beautifully drawn border was writing, changing, rearranging itself.” The map makes letters, which give them a clue to find the Sun Scepter, which can change the weather.
  • The wolves use the Snowstone to make the weather colder, which weakens the dragons’ power.
  • When Anders, Rayna, and their friends get to Cloudhaven, they are able to enter the building by using pins with runes on them. When they enter, Anders tells Cloudhaven what they are looking for “and then, just as it had before, the glow out in the hallway faded. When it returned a moment later, the path of runes led down the stairs again. . . the new glowing path led an entirely new direction.” Cloudhaven lights a path showing Anders and Rayna where they need to go.
  • Anders and Rayna are given two pendants. When Anders placed a pendant onto Rayna’s dragon form, “the necklace simply melted into her skin, vanishing, perhaps to the same place her clothes and the contents of her pockets had gone when she transformed.”

When Elephants Fly

Lillian has a plan. No boys, no stress, and no drinking. In fact, Lillian’s entire life revolves around a plan that avoids any sort of stress that could trigger schizophrenia. Schizophrenia runs in Lillian’s family; it drove her mother to throw Lillian off a roof when she was just a child. While Lillian’s plan to avoid stress seems like a good idea, Lillian’s best friend Sawyer worries she is letting life pass her by.

But Lillian doesn’t mind. That is until her job at a newspaper requires her to cover the birth of a baby elephant. The baby elephant, nicknamed Swifty, is rejected by her mother shortly after the birth and is nearly trampled to death by her mom. Due to their similar plights, Lillian finds herself drawn to Swifty and filled with a need to protect the baby elephant. But will saving Swifty cost Lillian her best friend, her freedom, and her sanity?

Throughout the story, Lillian struggles between taking the easy route to preserve her sanity and risking everything to save Swifty. The bond between Lillian and Swifty allows the reader to become emotionally concerned about Swifty and care about her well-being. The end of the novel suggests that it’s okay and even right for Lillian to risk her health and break the law in order to protect Swifty, despite the fact that she goes against the advice of adults with much more elephant experience than her. In the end, Lillian perseveres due to her unconditional love for Swifty.

When Elephants Fly has a delightfully original plot. It’s filled with facts about both elephants and schizophrenia that are conveyed to the reader in a way that meshes well with the storyline and doesn’t come across as obtrusive. The characters are unique but shallow. The original premise of the story will keep readers turning the pages. The lack of descriptions in When Elephants Fly may disappoint older readers; however, for readers just graduating to the YA level, this story is sure to delight with its many twists and turns.

The story touches on some difficult topics, including mental illness, genetics, family trauma, friendship, and animal rights. Although the author attempts to educate readers about schizophrenia, she unfortunately allows readers to believe that mental illnesses can be prevented–which is not the case. Flashbacks are scattered throughout the story, allowing readers to get a glimpse into Lillian’s thinking process as well as her increasingly unsteady mental health. Although When Elephants Fly has an interesting premise, readers will notice that some of the plot points are unrealistic, the romance is forced, and the characters are underdeveloped. Despite the book’s flaws, anyone interested in mental health or animal abuse should read When Elephants Fly.

Sexual Content

  • Lillian wants “to at least be kissed by someone other than John Jensen in the tunnel of love. We were ten and I let him cop a feel of my nonexistent boobs.”
  • Years ago, Lillian’s grandparents wrote a letter to Lillian’s parents begging them to abort her. Her grandparents were certain the stress of becoming a mother would trigger their daughter’s schizophrenia.
  • Lillian has a plan for a stress-free life to avoid triggering schizophrenia. That includes no sex. At one point, she sees a guy who is “cute in a hipster kind of way. I’ve taken a vow of celibacy for the next twelve years, but I can still look.”
  • Lillian thinks about a schizophrenic girl who “had hallucinations that she was having sex, all the time, day and night, fully clothed. Three years after her first episode, she’d attempted suicide twice, was addicted to cutting and lived in her stepmother’s basement.”
  • Lillian accidentally sees Otis skinny-dipping and remembers skinny-dipping with her best friend Sawyer. “Otis is naked . . . I should look away, but I don’t. It’s not the first time I’ve seen a naked guy. I mean, I’ve seen Sawyer plenty of times. We skinny-dip in his pool late at night when his parents are away or asleep. But it’s the first time I’ve seen a naked guy who doesn’t know I’m watching him. Technically, that’s uncool. But my eyes still travel from his broad shoulders to his lean waist, pretty much perfect butt and muscular legs.”
  • Lillian and Otis almost kiss. “Our lips are inches apart. His fingers drift down to trace my collarbone . . . Our lips brush, soft, fleeting. His mouth travels along my neck. Everywhere he touches comes alive.”
  • Otis says, “When I was seven, one of the workers took an interest in me. I was the kind of kid pedophiles target . . . One night I was sleeping outside Tambor’s pen. I woke up to the guy unbuttoning my jeans. Nothing happened. But it was heading that way.”
  • Lillian and Otis kiss. “It’s my first real kiss . . . Otis pulls back, runs his thumb over my lower lip. My skin is alive for the first time in my life. It’s like being woken up after eighteen years of trying to feel nothing.” They kiss several more times.
  • Lillian and Otis undress, but are interrupted before they can sleep together. “He cups my breasts, his thumbs instantly making my nipples insanely sensitive. He draws me onto his lap so that I’m straddling him, and I can feel how much he wants me. . . He slides me beneath him then bends, lips tasting the curve of my breasts, tongue teasing my nipples until I shiver from the sensation.”

Violence

  • Lillian thinks about examples of schizophrenic behavior often. “I mean like hearing a man’s voice telling you to drive your car into a group of little kids, watching your best friend’s face morph into a monster or people screaming so loudly in your brain that you consider taking a hammer to your own head to crush the voices.”
  • Lillian remembers her schizophrenic mom’s erratic behavior. “If she hit me, five minutes later she’d wonder about a red mark or bruise, then kiss it to make it better.”
  • Lillian watches an elephant give birth. “In a single breath the sac expands then Raki’s calf drops to the ground. There’s a gust of fluid followed by a stream of bright red blood that paints the insides of Raki’s legs crimson.” To make her baby elephant take its first breath, the elephant mother “kicks the newborn with her back leg—hard enough to move it several feet. The calf doesn’t react. Raki kicks it again. . . Finally, its dark eyes blink then remain open.”
  • Lillian thinks about a girl on YouTube with schizophrenia. The girl’s worst hallucinations “included seeing the lower part of her face in bloody tatters each time she caught her reflection in a window or mirror.” Another schizophrenic kid had “voices in his head that told him every single day to kill himself before someone else did it for him. His birthday was March 17 and he didn’t post that day, or ever again.”
  • When Lillian hears that her best friend’s dad is being a jerk, she thinks, “I want to drive over to Cushing Stafford Thompson’s mansion and light it on fire with him inside.”
  • The zoo director tells Lillian about the first orphan elephant she met. “He was found on the Masai Mara standing beside his dead mother. She’d been killed by a poacher’s poison spear. Her tusks had been sawed off, leaving gaping, bloody wounds.”
  • An elephant mother rejects her calf and attacks it. “With an earsplitting trumpet, Raki charges her calf and head-butts her in the torso so hard that Swifty Jones flies several feel through the air, hits the ground, rolls. Raki kicks her repeatedly, her body flipping down the length of the room until she’s ten feet from us. The calf is motionless, her eyes closed.”
  • Otis gets into a fight with his brother. “Howard’s backhand comes out of nowhere, like a bear attack. It catches Otis in the jaw, snaps his head sideways. He doesn’t go down but it’s close. Despite the blood on his lower lip, Otis keeps his hands balled at his sides.”
  • Otis confesses that his brother killed someone. “Howard stabbed the guy twenty-two times. I can still hear the sound of the tines going through skin, muscle, hitting bone.”
  • Lillian’s mother “committed suicide in prison.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Jonah, a student at school, “told his dad that there was a keg at a preseason track party. His dad called the principal. Jonah is now a pariah.”
  • Lillian walks in to find her dad “drinking Scotch. By the half-empty bottle on the counter and the bleary look in his eyes, he’s had way too much. I haven’t seen him drunk in a long time, not since the last few months with Violet.”
  • Lillian’s dad leaves a voicemail. “I heard ice cubes in the background. Calvin was drunk again.”
  • It’s mentioned in passing that Sawyer’s mom “eats [Xanax] like candy,” though it’s never shown.
  • A circus worker mentions that he is on probation for “Drugs. Got hooked. Made some stupid choices.” Later it’s revealed that he “got hooked on heroin when he was thirteen, [then] switched to meth because it was cheaper.”
  • Lillian sees a circus worker drunk. “The way he’s moving reminds me of my dad when he’s had too much Scotch. What the hell is going on? Why is Howard working with the elephants when he’s been drinking?”

Language

  • Hell and damn are used frequently. Lillian’s boss tells her, “Get the hell out of my office.” Another time Lillian asks, “What the hell is wrong with you?” During an argument, Lillian’s dad says, “Dammit, how can you even remember?”
  • Ass, pissed, and crap are used often. For example, “Howard stares at his brother like he’s a total ass.” A worker tells his friend to “stop flirting and get your ass in the truck.” Another time, Sawyer’s mom tells her son, “What’d you expect? You pissed him off, dear.” Lillian said her dad “took a massive crap” on one of her ideas.
  • Shit is used frequently. After watching an elephant give birth, the zoo director tells Lillian, “Holy shit! You’re white as a ghost.” Another time, Lillian calls “Bullshit!” during an argument with her dad.
  • Fuck and motherfucking are used several times. Lillian’s best friend tells her “fuck you.” A woman says if a man wants to know if she is single, “he should fucking ask me himself.”
  • Bitching and bastard are both used a few times. “Matthews is bitching about video, though. It better be attached to your next article.”
  • Prick is used once. A man says, “Tiger is willing to risk her future for what she believes in. What we should all believe in, if we’re not callous, inhumane pricks.”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

 

What Light

The Christmas season holds a special place in the heart of Sierra’s family. Her parents first met at a Christmas tree lot and quickly fell in love. Now her parents own a Christmas tree farm in Oregon. Every winter, the family travels to California to set up their Christmas tree lot. Because of this, Sierra has never had a normal Christmas holiday, but she has never wanted anything different, having friends in both Oregon and California.

Sierra has always been able to keep her two lives apart, but all that changes when she meets Caleb, a handsome boy with a bad reputation. Even though Sierra is warned to stay away from Caleb’s cute smile, Sierra is drawn to him. The more she gets to know him, the more questions she has about his bad reputation. Sierra is determined to show others that Caleb’s past mistakes should not define him, but with mounting pressure from her parents and friends, Sierra wonders if Caleb is worth the trouble. Amid growing suspicion and misconceptions, Sierra wonders if love really can conquer all.

What Light is a beautiful story about first love, forgiveness, and family. Readers will fall in love with Sierra, who doesn’t hide her intelligence when trying to attract a boy. Instead, she continues to use advanced vocabulary and enjoys the fact that Caleb tries to stump her with new words. Readers will be drawn to Sierra because of her sweet, trusting nature and her love of all things Christmas. Another positive aspect of the story is Sierra’s parents, who use positive communications skills to guide Sierra through her first love, even as they worry about the possibility of Caleb breaking her heart.

As teen romances flood the market, What Light will draw readers in with relatable characters who have healthy relationships. This sweet story steers away from sex, swear words, and other objectionable material. Any reader who is looking for an engaging holiday romance should grab a blanket and a cup of hot cocoa and curl up with What Light. Like a Hallmark Movie, this story will leave readers with a smile and the belief that love can indeed conquer all.

Sexual Content

  • Heather talks about her boyfriend and says, “If the choice is between listening to him or kissing him, kissing is a much better use of his mouth.”
  • When Sierra talks to Heather about her boyfriend, Sierra says, “You and Devon hang out a lot, and I know you make out a lot, but does he know you really like him?”
  • Sierra’s friend tells her to, “put a stupid mistletoe over his head and kiss him already!” During the conversation, the friend also says, “You should probably kiss him, though, before you make any bigger decisions.”
  • The first time Sierra and Caleb kiss, “he touches my cheek with his hand and guides me toward him. His lips are so soft against mine, sweetened with peppermint. I lean further in and get lost kissing him. I slide off him to the mat and then he rolls himself on top of me. I wrap my arms around him and we kiss with more intensity. We pull back to catch our breaths and look into each other’s eyes.”
  • Caleb kisses Sierra and “once again I lose myself in his kiss. I trace my lips from his jaw to his ear.”
  • While on a date, Caleb “kisses me softly. I reach up and touch his cold cheeks, which make his lips feel even warmer. I wonder if every kiss with Caleb will feel this new and magical.”
  • Caleb and Sierra kiss several other times, but the kisses are not described.

Violence

  • Caleb tells Sierra about a time when he was younger. He was angry at his sister and ran after her with a knife. When Caleb’s sister ran from him, “she got to her room and slammed the door. . . I stabbed her door with the knife over and over. I didn’t way to hurt her. . . but I could not stop stabbing the door. I heard her screaming and crying to our mom on the phone. Finally, I dropped the knife and just slumped onto the floor.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Sierra’s friend went on one date with a boy who was “caught with an open can of beer in his friend’s car.”
  • On New Year’s Eve, a boy promises to be “the designated driver for the entire cheer squad.”

Language

  • God is used as an exclamation twice. Oh my God is used as an exclamation once.
  • Hell, damn, and crappy are all used once
  • Caleb’s sister calls her brother “bone-headed.”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • Sierra teases a boy, saying, “You probably consider your sweet tooth a major sin.” The boy replies, “No, I don’t remember that one being mentioned in church, but laziness has been, and I am that.”
  • A little girl tells Caleb that her family has “said a prayer for you.”
  • A family’s car breaks down on a long trip and the family has to rent a motel room. When the woman recounts the experience, she says, “Thank you, God, they had a pool there or the kids would have killed each other.”
  • Caleb and Sierra have a brief conversation about church. Caleb is a believer, and although he attends church, the story doesn’t go into his beliefs.
  • Sierra says a prayer. “Please don’t let this be the last time I see Caleb.”

Ice Wolves

Twelve-year-old orphans Anders and Rayna don’t know who their parents are, and they have always relied on each other to get through each day. The pair know all of the back streets of Vallen and they know to avoid the Wolf Guard as much as possible. When Anders is almost caught stealing, the twins join a group of twelve-year-olds who are in line to discover if they are elementals—humans that can transform into wolves.

When Anders takes the form of a wolf and his sister Rayna takes the form of a dragon, Anders wonders if they are related at all. Everyone knows that a wolf and a dragon cannot come from the same family. Even worse, after Rayna transforms two dragons appear and claim her as one of them. The only thing that Anders knows for certain is that Ice Wolves and Scorch Dragons are enemies. But despite the feud between the wolves and dragons, Anders is determined to find his sister.

To rescue Rayna, Anders must find the dragon’s hidden capital city. The only way to get the information he needs is to enlist at the foreboding Ulfar Academy, a school for young wolves. Anders only wants to find the dragons and save his sister; he wasn’t expecting to find friends. Will Anders have to betray his new friends in order to save his sister? And what will Anders do if he finds his sister only to discover that Rayna has become just like the cruel dragons that took her?

Ice Wolves begins with a heart-stopping surprise and plenty of action, but the story starts to drag when the main character enters Ulfar Academy to learn about Ice Wolves. Because Anders doesn’t understand the elementals or the Ice Wolves, the reader gets to learn along with him. However, when the story ends there are still many unanswered questions that will nag readers.

Anders is not a unique character, but middle school readers may relate to his insecurities and his desire to find a place to fit in. As the story progresses, Ander not only builds confidence in his abilities, he also begins to understand what it means to have friends “who’d back you up without needing to know the reason why.” Even though Anders clearly cares for his pack, he never loses sight of his ultimate goal to find his sister.

Amie Kaufman has created a world with multicultural, diverse people who live in peace—people who fear the Scorch Dragons, but the reason for this fear is never explained. Although the threat of dragons brings suspense, the dragons only appear at the very beginning and end of the book. Kaufman includes many diverse characters in the story, however, at times it felt as if she was trying too hard to incorporate every type of person. One character is referred to using the pronoun “they.” The use of the pronoun is never explained, which may cause readers some confusion. One positive aspect of the story is Lisbeth, a strong female who isn’t content with following orders. Lisbeth spends much of her time engrossed in books, and it is through her that Anders begins to understand friendship. Lisbeth is curious, loyal, and determined to do the right thing no matter what.

Fans of fantasy will enjoy Ice Wolves even though the plot is not fast-paced. Even though the characters are not unique, the story of friendship and family will entertain strong readers. The conclusion contains a surprise, a battle, and a cliffhanger that sets up the second book in the series—Scorch Dragons. Readers will love how Anders learns that bravery is “doing what you must” even when you are afraid. Readers interested in Ice Wolves will also want to read the Simon Thorn series, which also has shape-shifting characters, but has much more action.

Sexual Content

  • While telling Anders about a female professor, a girl says that the professor has a wife.
  • Lisbeth’s father “was a mercher from Baseyda who was back on a ship before I was born. I’m not sure he even knows I exist.”

Violence

  • During a celebration, a dragon appears in Holbard. The dragon “had breathed fire as it circled above the city, then vanished into the darkness. An hour later, a set of stables in the north of the city was ablaze with the ferocious, white-and-gold dragonfire that was almost impossible to put out. . .” No one was injured.
  • When Rayna turns into a dragon, the Wolf Guard attacks her. An ice wolf “reared onto its hind legs, then crashed back down to earth. As its front paws hit the cobblestone, two long spears of ice burst from the ground, sharp and jagged, flying straight at the dragon’s gleaming side. They were like huge, deadly icicles with razor-sharp points. . . When they struck Rayna, her scales instantly turned gray with cold. She screamed, spreading her wings, and more wolves brought down their front paws on the ground, launching ice spears at her. . .” When Anders tries to help her, he grabs the staff and turns into a wolf.
  • Rayna again turns into a dragon and “when she thrashed her tail, a shop front flew to pieces like a house of cards.” Ice wolves run towards Rayna, while “everyone else in the street was turning to run now.” When the wolves attack Rayna, two other dragons appear and lead her out of the city. The scene takes place over three pages.
  • The wolves believe that the dragons take children and “sacrifice them on the day of the equinox.”
  • A fire begins in the city and the Wolf Guard helps put out the fire. “With a great hissing the spears immediately began to melt, sending up steam, creating billows of white smoke against the night sky as golden sparks rained down on the cobblestone of the square. . . Many people have to escape through windows and some of the street children are trapped on a roof. A scream came from above as the flames licked higher, clouds of smoke enveloping the children.” Anders helps the children and everyone escapes unharmed. The fire scene takes place over three pages.
  • When Lisbeth and Anders go to the dragons’ city, the wolves follow them and attack. “Those dragons in human form were fighting however they could, swinging chairs, a few brandishing knives—they had overturned the huge table, which must have been the crash he heard, and some were fighting from behind it. The wolves were fighting with teeth and ice spears, his classmates acting with trained precision.” Several dragons and wolves are injured. Ander’s friend pauses, and “it was all the chance the human he was fighting needed—she swung the pastry pole hard at him, connecting with his head and shoulders and sending him flying backward.” Ander’s sister is hit with an ice spear that “caught her shoulder, knocking her back into the crowd, and she hit the ground.” The wolves eventually retreat. No one is seriously injured. The battle scene takes place over ten pages.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • One of the characters explains how elementals change. “Essence is the magic that’s found all around us. In nature, in the earth itself. When we transform from human to wolf, we channel it instinctively so we can make the change. Wherever they’re from in the wolf, elementals always have gifts linked to nature, because nature is where we find the essence that gives us our power.”
  • When elementals touch the Staff of Hadda, they turn into wolves or dragons. When Rayna touched the staff, “Rayna rolled onto her back, arms out flung. Her face darkened to a deep, unnatural burgundy, then shifted to shades of bright crimson, as if all her skin was bleeding at once. . . her arms and legs seemed to stretch impossibly long, and the arms of her coat stretched and slit. . . The fabric shredded and vanished in seconds as Rayna’s body grew, doubling in size, then tripling, her neck lengthening, her mouth open in a hoarse, unending scream.” Rayna turns into a fifteen-foot-long dragon and flies away.
  • The first time Anders transforms into a wolf, his clothes are shredded. The Ice Wolves use an amulet that keep makes the clothes transform with them. The amulet “helps your shirt stay where it belongs when you change. Helps you control when you change at all.”
  • In the past, dragons and wolves crafted magical objects with runes. Many of the objects are magical and the “runes are what channeled the essence—the power that came from nature, from the earth itself—into artifacts.” For example, “high above the entrance to the port were the huge, metal arches of the wind guards, the biggest artifacts in all of Vallen. . . The arches were marked with runes forged all along their length—the runes were the sign of an artifact—and were big enough for even the largest ship to pass under it.” The arches keep out the wind, making the harbor always peaceful.
  • While picking pockets, Anders almost “reached for a thiefcatcher. If he’d laid his hands on the zips to open her pockets, the charms would have started blaring a quick, high alarm, turning every face in the square toward him.”
  • One of the wolves has a mirror that “allows two-way communication.”
  • Anders discovers that he can create icefire—blue-and-silver fire. When he uses the fire, “the white fire and the ice spear both vanished into nothing as they connected with his blue-and-silver flames.”

Spiritual Content

  • None

 

Cloaked in Red

So you think you know the story of Little Red Riding Hood, the girl with the unfortunate name and the inability to tell the difference between her grandmother and a member of a different species? Well, then, try your hand at answering these questions: Which character (not including Little Red herself) is the most fashion challenged? Who (not including the wolf) is the scariest? Who (not including Granny) is the most easily scared? Who is the strangest (notice we’re not “not including” anyone, because they’re all a little off.)? Who (no fair saying “the author”) has stuffing for brains?

Vivian Vande Velde retells the story of Little Red Riding Hood and gives the story eight new endings. The stories aren’t truly a retelling because they take a small portion of the original story and weave it into a new and often strange story. The author makes fun of the original fairy tale, but her own versions of Little Red Riding Hood are flat and unexciting. Instead of digging deeper into Little Red Riding Hood’s life and character, the author doesn’t add any new insight or meaning to the original fairy tale.

The beginning of the story makes fun of the Grimm’s vision of Little Red Riding Hood, and the author seems to go out of her way to portray Little Red Riding Hood in a negative light. In all of the stories, Little Red’s name changes, which is not only confusing but also makes it hard for the reader to connect with the character. In addition, Little Red is an unlikeable character in all of the stories. She is either stupid, self-absorbed, or a witch.

Readers who love fairy tales, both the original and retelling, should leave Cloaked in Red on the shelf. Vivian Vande Velde’s versions of Little Red Riding Hood are uninteresting, strange, and difficult to read. Instead of reading Cloaked in Red, grab a copy of Seeing Red by Sarah Mlynowski or Misfit by Jen Calonita; both books are excellent retellings that have a strong female character.

 Sexual Content

  • A girl was wandering in the woods when a group of boys sees her. One boy asks, “Care to give us a kiss?” Then the boys formed a line and the girl kisses each boy. The girl then rides away with one of the boys.

Violence

  • When a wolf attacks Little Red Riding Hood, she “realized that the wolf’s sharp nails had not only pulled the cloak off her, they had ripped the fabric. She smacked the wolf’s muzzle, hard. . . The wolf backed away, his muzzle stinging.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • A woodcutter finds a girl sleeping in the woods. The woodcutter assumes that the girl had “too much to drink.”

Language

  • Little Red Riding Hood repeatedly calls the wolf stupid and then says, “I bet your own mother was sorry she ever had a stupid excuse of a lunkbrain like you.” Later she calls him a “stupid clod.”

Supernatural

  • A woman makes a doll. When the woman wishes for a daughter, the doll comes alive.
  • In one story, Little Red Riding Hood is a witch and her grandmother is a werewolf.
  • When a vampire appears, Little Red Riding Hood “uttered a magic spell and transformed him into a frog—a pale, sickly-looking frog.”
  • A fairy godmother accidentally cast a spell on a cloak making it smart. The cloak can think, repair itself, as well as adjust its size.

Spiritual Content

  • None

 

The Heir

Eadlyn, the daughter of Maxon and America, is next in line for the throne and will be the first woman in her country’s history to rule by herself. Eadlyn is powerful—the last thing she needs is a man to get in her way. When unrest begins to develop throughout the country, Eadlyn’s parents come to her with a solution to distract the people while they attempt to settle the turmoil in the country—a Selection of her own.

Eadlyn is against the idea. She doesn’t see how babysitting 35 boys will solve the country’s problems. Eadlyn finally agrees to an attempt at finding a husband through the Selection but plans to sabotage it by acting as unpleasant as possible, encouraging the boys to leave on their own and finishing the Selection her way. However, Eadlyn quickly discovers that she must play to the eye of the public in order to win the public’s favor of herself as the next ruler in line for the throne.

As the Selection runs its course, Eadlyn finds herself enjoying some of the boys and doesn’t entirely hate the thought of them being in her house. However, with fights and attempted inappropriate touching, the press begins to show that Eadlyn doesn’t have control over her own Selection. Will Eadlyn finish her Selection with a husband and continue on to rule the country?

Readers won’t be able to put down this installation of the Selection series as they watch the newest generation of Illea’s royalty work through a possible uprising, budding romance, and a whole new type of Selection. Although the first few chapters of The Heir are slow, the pacing picks up and will leave the readers turning the pages to find out if Eadlyn will find the love of her life and still rule Illea. Readers will want to read the previous books of the Selection series in order to fully enjoy and understand The Heir.

Eadlyn is shown as a powerful, headstrong heir to the throne, who learns how to let her walls down. Eadlyn discovers that letting people see her as more than just a ruler, will actually benefit herself. At the beginning of the book, her condescending, blunt, and rude personality may turn away readers. However, readers will eventually fall in love with Eadlyn as she learns how to be the “people’s ruler.” Entertaining characters from previous books make appearances along with new, well-developed characters. Overall, these components create a storyline that will keep readers turning the pages. The story highlights the importance of family and friends and shows that with the help of others, anything can be accomplished. Because the conclusion of The Heir ends with a cliffhanger, readers will want to have the next book of the series, The Crown, on hand.

Language

  • When Kile and Eadlyn greet one another on a date, Eadlyn jokes, “It’s ‘Royal Pain in the Ass’ to you, sir.”
  • Kile apologizes for calling Eadlyn “bratty.”
  • After a parade ends in a disaster, Eadlyn’s parents ask her what happened. Eadlyn replies, “Hell if I know.”
  • “Darn it” is used once.
  • Loser is used twice. Eadlyn jokingly tells someone, “Come in, loser.”
  • Erik tells Eadlyn, “That’s really none of my business, and you’re obviously having a rough day. I’m an ass.”

Sexual Content

  • General Leger is seen kissing his wife, Miss Lucy. In the studio, “General Leger was there, kissing Miss Lucy on her forehead and whispering something to her.”
  • When Eadlyn recounts her disastrous meeting of the Selected men, she says, “one blatantly stared at my chest for the entirety of our meeting.” Eadlyn later sends this man home for the reason, “‘When we met, you couldn’t stop staring at my breasts.’”
  • Kile and Eadlyn kiss in a hallway with the hopes of being photographed by paparazzi. Eadlyn describes their kiss saying, “Kile leaned down, lips meeting mine, holding them there. Then his lips parted and closed and parted again.” Their kissing is described for about a page.
  • Ahren, Eadlyn’s twin brother, makes fun of her for her lack of relationship experience. Ahren says a picture in the paper does not count as a relationship and, “Neither does making out with Leron Troyes at that Christmas ball in Paris.”
  • When going on a date with Baden, Eadlyn says, “Baden and I are going to make music…. I mean that literally, by the way.”
  • Eadlyn invites Kile over to her room and they kiss. Eadlyn recounts that she “wrapped my hand around his head, pulling him to me, and an instant later his arms were around my waist.” Eadlyn describes their kissing for a page.
  • Eadlyn is overwhelmed and goes to Kile for help. Eadlyn pushes Kile into a closet. “I was so overwhelmed, I pressed my lips into his, knowing that would make everything else stop for a minute.” As their kissing gets hotter, Eadlyn begins to remove his shirt, but Kile stops her.
  • Henri and Eadlyn kiss in the kitchen. Eadlyn describes their kiss as delicate. “I pressed my lips into his, trying to tell him without words that this was okay, that I wanted him to hold me.” Their kiss is described for half a page.
  • Camille, Ahren’s girlfriend, comes to Illea from France. When Camille arrives, Ahren, “held her tightly and kissed every corner of her face.”
  • Camille and Ahren sneak off to spend more time together. “Ahren snuck away with Camille, kissing her every step of the way.”
  • When Camille and Ahren don’t show up to breakfast one morning, Eadlyn assumes that either, “Ahren had come to his senses and told her that he needed to consider other options, and they were both in the process of avoiding each other… or they’d spent the night together and were maybe still in bed.”

Violence

  • When Kile calls Eadlyn “bratty” his mother “twacked her son over the head.”
  • When Jack tries to take things too far with Eadlyn, Ahren comes to Eadlyn’s defense. As Jack continues to torment Eadlyn in front of Ahren, Eadlyn had “never seen Ahren throw a punch before. It was almost as shocking as Jack’s limp body after my brother’s fist forced his head to whip back at an awkward angle.”
  • During a group date, Burke and Fox get into a heated argument over their cooking styles. As their argument continues to heat up, “Burke threw a punch that knocked Fox back several steps. I sucked in a breath, frozen. Fox came back at him, and I was pushed to the floor by Burke’s arm pulling back for another punch.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • As Eadlyn and her parents prepare for the arrival of the Selected men, her mother and the chef discuss the need to finalize the first seven-course dinner. Eadlyn “groaned internally. A true seven-course meal could take six hours from the first sip of a cocktail to the final bite of chocolate.”
  • Eadlyn hides away from her people. She says she “took shelter in long baths or a drink with dinner.”
  • After Eadlyn’s parade for the Selected men goes awry, Eadlyn’s mother and father “were both drinking something a little stronger than wine—a rare occasion—though it didn’t appear to be doing much for their nerves.”
  • When Eadlyn invites Kile into her room, Kile “spotted the wine I’d provided and wasted no time in pouring himself a glass.”
  • When Ean questions Eadlyn on what her favorite food is, Eadlyn answers, “Do mimosas count?”

Spiritual Content

  • When Eadlyn comes across two guards, one of the guards says, “Thank God. Go to the king and tell him we’ve found her.”
  • When Eadlyn’s mother has a heart attack, Eadlyn rushes to the hospital wing. When she gets there, “Aunt May sat next to Miss Marlee, who appeared to be deep in prayer.”
  • When the Selected men find out that Eadlyn’s mother is in the hospital wing, they come to show their support. As they approach Eadlyn, Kile says, “We’ve come to pray.”

Supernatural Content

  • None

Heartwood Box

Araceli’s parents wanted her to have a normal, American senior year, so they sent her to stay with her Great-Aunt Ottillie. Araceli is supposed to be focusing on school and getting ready for college, but she thinks that her aunt’s old Victorian home may be haunted. Araceli can feel someone watching her, and it doesn’t help that her great-aunt still leaves food out for her husband that has been missing for twenty years.

Araceli’s great-aunt isn’t the only creepy thing in town. Local businesses are plastered with missing posters. The townspeople are watchful and suspicious of each other. There are unexplained lights in the woods and a mysterious lab just beyond the city walls that no one talks about. When Araceli begins getting letters from the past, she thinks someone is playing a nasty joke on her.

When Araceli’s friend disappears, she is determined to find out what is going on. In order to solve the mystery, she must investigate the other disappearances as well as the secretive lab. But someone is willing to go to great lengths to keep their secrets hidden. Can Araceli uncover the conspiracy or will someone make her disappear?

The Heartwood Box is an immensely enjoyable, complicated story that will have readers guessing until the very end. Told from Araceli’s point of view, the creepy town comes alive. Although Araceli isn’t the most relatable character, her story is compelling. The supporting characters are not well-developed but they help move the plot along at a fast pace. For those who love character-driven stories, The Heartwood Box might disappoint.

This story is a mix of science-fiction, mystery, and historical romance. The multiple plots may leave readers confused unless they pay close attention. Not only is Araceli falling in love with a World War I soldier, but she is also trying to fit in at a new school and solve the mystery of the town’s disappearing people. The end of the story ties all of the threads together in a satisfying, if somewhat implausible, conclusion.

Aguirre also throws in the theme of colorism. Several times in the story, Araceli talks about colorism and gives examples of how dark skin people are treated differently than whites. At one point she thinks, “I wish America cared the same about Black and Brown girls, but there’s a lot to do yet.” Even though Araceli is bi-racial, this theme is not well fleshed out.

Readers looking for a unique time travel mystery will enjoy The Heartwood Box, which has several surprising twists at the end. Some of the vocabulary is difficult, but the majority of the story is written in easy to understand language. Although the ending is rushed, the book will captivate readers who enjoyed the Ruby Red series by Kerstin Gier or Passenger by Alexandra Bracken.

Sexual Content

  • When Araceli has a friend over to the house, her aunt says, “You can watch TV in the parlor if you want. I do trust both of you, but it would be disrespectful for you to go upstairs.” Araceli thinks to herself, “Oh my God, if I wanted to hook up with Logan, I’d go across the street. He already said his parents aren’t home.”
  • In a dream, Araceli is able to see soldiers who are on a ship. She hears, “a slick skin-on-skin sound that I identify as a soldier jerking off, trying to be stealthy about it.”
  • While talking to a boy, Araceli thinks, “He’s thirsty for me. I’ve seen the look enough to recognize it, but I pretend not to know. . .”
  • When Araceli is sitting in a car with a boy, her aunt “saves me by flipping the porch light on and peeking out the front door, likely to make sure we’re not getting hot and heavy in her Plymouth.”
  • While in a dream, Araceli meets a soldier and, “I can touch him in this dream, so I do. There’s no reason to hold back. When he drops his weapon and opens his arms, I slide into them like I belong there. . . I stretch up on tiptoe and cup his face in my hands; I feel the heat of his skin, the scruff on his chin and jaw. Then I press my mouth to his, light and soft. He drags me closer and kisses me like our lives depend on it, all heat and desperation. . . We kiss and cling until I can barely breathe.”
  • When Araceli’s aunt and uncle see her sitting in a car with an older man, her uncle asks, “Is there something you need to tell us? We won’t judge you. Grown men who entice young girls should be ashamed.” Araceli tells them that the man was a family friend.

Violence

  • The town sheriff physically abuses his son. The abuse is not described, but Araceli sees the bruises. When the boy gets to school, she “can see his lip is busted, and his face is swollen on one side. At a minimum, someone slapped the shit out of him, and it looks more like he took a few hits to the face.”
  • In a letter, a soldier writes about his experiences. “France has become hell on earth, no way around it. Great tunnels in the dirt, piled high with bodies and you can’t tell a Jerry from a Brit from a Sammy. . . Death makes every soldier the same. Nobody is coming for those men, not to give them services or say a few words or even to bury them. The birds pluck out their eyes. . .” The soldier also writes, “I killed my first Jerry and threw up afterwards. . . My friend John took one in the gut, bad way to go. Took him hours to go west, and we were all freezing next to his body in a trench during that first long hour of hate.”
  • Araceli thinks back to the past. “The kids are protesting, shouting, waving signs. A shot rings out. The student leader goes down, bleeding from his head, and it’s all mayhem, all running and screaming.”
  • Someone tells the county sheriff to kill someone. The sheriff says, “You’re trying to give me a kill order? I can’t believe you think you bought me for fifty thousand.”
  • Araceli and her friends are trying to destroy mechanisms that create the ghost light. A man sees them and Araceli “rush[es] toward him, and everything else is instinct. With the hammer, I knock whatever he has out of his hand, and then I swing again, as hard as I can, right upside his head. His body goes flying, tumbling down the hill and into the water with an ominous splash.” The man dies.
  • Araceli and her friends are chased by guards who shoot at them. Araceli’s “heart thunders in my ears as more bullets spray the area. I get stung on a ricochet and a sharp pain slices across my calf. Shit, it hurts. . .” One of her friends is shot. “His voice comes out liquid with blood and breathy from his struggle for air. . . Jackson gives me a sad smile, his teeth stained with blood. . . He goes limp in my arms. . . Jackson’s blood is all over the soil and the stones, staining my hands and the suit he made to protect us.” The scene takes place over seven pages.
  • After Araceli’s friend dies, she jumps on an ATV and tries to escape. The guards, “snap shots at me as they can, but it’s not as easy from the back of an ATV, firing at a moving vehicle.” She crashes, and a man “twists my arms behind me and binds my wrists with what feels like a zip tie, then drags me out of sight. . .I taste blood from where my lips split against my teeth.” The man gags her and then puts her in a cell. The scene takes place over 4 pages.
  • Over a radio, Araceli hears “the sound of a Taser discharging and the impact of a fist hitting flesh.”
  • As Araceli and Dr. Perry try to get to the lab’s control room, Dr. Perry “slams into three guards coming around the corner. His weapon flies out of his hand. . .” Araceli shoots a guard in the belly and “the guard screams and topples over. . .” Dr. Perry shoots a guard. Later Dr. Perry shoots two more guards “neatly, two chest shots, two clean kills.” Eventually, someone shoots Dr. Perry. “Slugs slam into the blocks, shaking the cement. . . He’s down, bleeding from several wounds. . . He manages to shoot three of the four, and I fire on the last one while he’s reloading. . .” Dr. Perry dies. The scene takes place over four pages.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • As Araceli goes through town, she thinks about her past homes. “I can’t remember ever living in a freestanding house. There will be no rooftop garden parties here, no barbeques that draw out the neighbors so that we grill whatever’s on hand, and I take beer from the cooler without anyone asking how old I am.”
  • While in the past, Araceli goes to a Halloween party and gets drunk.
  • Araceli goes into a pizza place where some adults are drinking beer.
  • A girl’s mother is put on depression medication after her son disappears.
  • In a letter, a soldier says that while passing through England, they stopped at a town and some men got “puking drunk.”
  • When a boy is teaching Araceli to drive, he tells her, “You’re going really slow. If you’re not careful, you’ll get pulled over. Only people who are slightly high drive this much below the limit.”
  • Araceli is given a document that has information about the Heartwood box. A researcher had an “unfortunate addiction to hallucinogenic drugs.”
  • Araceli sends a note to the past, but wonders if the person receiving it, “was stoned when he got my note, laughed and rolled a joint with it.”
  • A boy’s grandfather only talked about a girl he once loved when he “had a little to drink.”

Language

  • Profanity is used often. Profanity includes ass, asshole, bitching, crap, damn, dammit, fricking hell, holy shit, piss, pissed, shit.
  • Araceli meets a boy and thinks that he is “kind of a dick.”
  • When Logan’s father gets home, he yells at his wife and asks, “Where the hell is he? I told him to come straight home from school and look after the fucking yard.”
  • OMG is used twice. Oh my god is used six times. Oh god and Oh Lord are both used once.
  • When her aunt gives her snacks after school, Araceli thinks, “I swear to God, I’m starting to like pretending I’m five. . .”
  • Araceli describes her mood as, “grumpy as hell.”
  • Araceli thinks, “I’ve experienced some shit in my life, but I can’t say I ever lived in a haunted house. Until now.” Later she thinks, “This house is so damn haunted.”
  • A boy is wearing a shirt that says, “Get in line B*tches.”

Supernatural

  • While in her aunt’s house and at school, Araceli feels a chill. She also feels as if someone is watching her.
  • Araceli has vivid dreams where she goes into the past and can interact with a World War I soldier. When she is dreaming, no other people can see or hear her besides the soldier. However, after one dream a picture of World War I changes. When she dreams, she can find the soldier because “there was a tug. . . I feel that same pull now, delicate and tenuous. . .”
  • Araceli goes into the attic, and “before I get to the pull cord, it’s tugged by an invisible hand until the distinctive click, and the light flares on.”
  • Araceli finds a treasure box that allows her to communicate with a World War I soldier. They write letters back and forth. Araceli also puts small objects like mint and antibiotic ointment into the box.
  • The town has “ghost lights” that make people slip into another time.
  • When people disappear, their loved ones leave out food for them, which also disappears.

Spiritual Content

  • When Araceli wakes up after being asleep for days, her aunt says, “Thank God.”
  • Araceli thinks about her parents who “aren’t religious. My mom’s agnostic and my dad is a lapsed Catholic, so I was baptized and that’s about it. . . We go to mass once a year at Christmas, and it’s a somber occasion in most of the countries I’ve lived in.”
  • Araceli goes to church with a friend, but the service is not described. While there, a woman says, “Everyone is welcome in God’s house.”

Dig Too Deep

Liberty is an independent teenager. She cooks, cleans, maintains a perfect GPA, plays volleyball, and applies for scholarships all by herself. However, her seemingly perfect life is turned upside down after her political activist mother is arrested on suspicion of being involved in a Washington DC car bombing. Her perfect life and her hopes of attending Georgetown are trashed. When her mother is sent to prison, Liberty is sent to Ebbottsville, a small town in rural Appalachia, to live with her grandmother. Liberty lived in Ebbottsville when she was a child, but now the top of Tanner’s peak is gone and the town’s water is neon orange.

Out of her comfort zone and away from her best friend, Liberty has to live in poverty and help her ailing grandmother suffering from lung cancer. At school, she is mocked as the “new girl” and she has a hard time adjusting to rural life when everyone seems to instantly hate her. However, Liberty quickly learns that her grandmother’s condition may have been caused by the infamous Peabody mining company’s mountaintop mine. Liberty soon finds herself in a fight with an infamous mining tycoon who will stop at nothing to keep his grip on the community. Will Liberty beat Peabody or will he silence her forever?

Poor, run-down, and alone – Allgeyer paints the perfect picture of a troubled girl against an unstoppable corporation in Dig Too Deep. Liberty is a good example for young girls, encouraging them to have a strong moral center and to take a stand when they feel something is wrong or unfair no matter the risk. Liberty takes time away from her own personal goals to care of her sick grandmother, which highlights the importance of loving with all of your heart. Liberty also shows forgiveness when she accepts her mother back into her life.

Dig Too Deep raises questions about modern-day mining practices and shows some harsh consequences of corrupt mining. The book brings environmental issues to young readers, encourages them to think about others, and research other environmental problems affecting our world.

Dig Too Deep has a quick and suspenseful plot with a perfect mix of teenage angst and real-world problems. Readers will not be able to put the book down because of the nonstop suspense. Liberty is a relatable character that readers will root for as she fights a corrupt mining organization. However, Allgeyer does push the extremes of young adult fiction and due to its intense sexual content, violence, and language, this book is best for older readers. Nonetheless, Dig Too Deep is a great book for those looking for a strong female character or for a book that discusses modern-day environmental issues.

Sexual Content

  • Liberty and Cole go to a party and sit by a bonfire where they kiss before being interrupted by Cole’s friend, Dobber. Liberty describes the kiss. “When our lips touch, warmth shoots through my body. I don’t feel the wind. I don’t feel the fire – just Cole’s lips and his tongue, teasing mine. His hands slide up, and I tense, thinking he’s going to grab my boob, but he touches my face instead, the back of my neck, pulling me into him.”
  • Liberty thinks Cole’s “kisses are absolutely the best thing about this place – all soft, warm, and Tic-Tac-y.”
  • Cole invites Liberty over to his house where things get spicy after he spills beer on her lap. After she throws her pants in the dryer and puts on some gym shorts, Liberty “can feel the heat of his body on my skin, his angles, hollows, and points. He’s doing that thing again, that feels so good – but also scary. I’m way, way outside my comfort zone.” This scene takes place over six pages where Liberty becomes partially undressed. Liberty is not comfortable or ready for sex, and they do not have sex. She leaves after her pants are dried.
  • Dobber and Liberty kiss two times in the novel. Once, when trying to avoid suspicion from Peabody, Dobber “leans toward me, puts one hand on the side of my face. . . and the other over my mouth. Then he kisses his hand.”

Violence

  • Cole explains that Dobber’s dad has an ankle bracelet on because he “attacked a guy in town” and “tried to strangle him. It took four men to pull him off.”
  • Liberty’s mother was arrested on suspicion of being involved in a New York car bombing. Liberty says that her mom can “blow up whatever she wants to.”
  • Cole refuses to let her go until she promises she will stay out of the mine’s business, so Liberty makes her free hand into a fist, and punches “Cole square in the face.” Liberty breaks her finger and Cole is bleeding out of his eye.
  • Liberty finds out what a rope dog is when she sees “Patient old Goldie hanging from a noose.”
  • Peabody’s men are hunting Dobber and his dad down with guns. “They’re not after Liberty. They’re after you. Dobber…” Cole stares him in the eye. “They have guns.” Dobber and his dad hide in Liberty’s house and Peabody’s men never find them.
  • After extorting Peabody, Dobber punches him in the face. “Peabody’s head snaps back before I realize Dobber punched him.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • At a party, Liberty watches as “Three girls sitting at a picnic table pass around a bottle of pink wine.”
  • When Cole invites Liberty to his house, he offers her a beer. Liberty takes “the can Cole hands me and he pops the top, misting me with Wittbrau Light.”
  • When Liberty asks Dobber’s dad questions about the mine, “Mr. Dobber opens the refrigerator and pulls out a beer.” He even offers one to Liberty, who refuses.
  • Dobber’s dad is an alcoholic and meth addict—Dobber tells Liberty that “the first day was the worst. I had to strap him down. But he ain’t had no drugs or alcohol in four days.” Dobber insists that his dad is changing and getting clean because of Liberty’s fight against the mine.

Language

  • Profanity is used in the extreme and is on almost every page. Profanity includes: ass, fuck, motherfuck, shit, hell, bitch, Oh my God, goddam bastard, and donkey balls.
  • Liberty’s cab driver won’t drive her all the way up to her house. She pays “him seven dollars, call him chickenshit under my breath, and haul my backpack and suitcases a quarter mile up the hill.”
  • Granny describes Liberty’s father. “Worthless piece o’ work ran his sorry ass out of town the same night Jess told him the news.”
  • On their way to the party, Cole looks over at Liberty and says “Shit, you’re probably freezing.” Then he hands her a blanket.
  • Dobber’s father calls Dobber a jackass.
  • Cole jokingly says he wants Dobber to go far far away and Dobber replies “Did I ask you, butthead?”
  • A girl warns Liberty about Cole. The girl says “He’ll shit on you just like he shit on every other girl he’s dated.” Liberty thinks the girl is a “bitch.”
  • Liberty calls her Granny an old bat and Granny mumbles “Old bat, my ass.”
  • At lunch, Dobber calls Peabody a ‘special kind of shit’ and Cole thinks that’s “bullcrap.”
  • “Oh my God,” Liberty exclaims when Cole tries to convince her the water is safe to drink.
  • After Granny is diagnosed with stage four lymphoma, Liberty thinks, “But my world’s far from perfect, and my one parent went AWOL, taking all my money and, with it, our only chance to escape this fucking toxic mountain.”
  • “What the hell?” Cole exclaims after Liberty punches him.
  • Dobber’s dad flips Liberty off when she leaves his house.
  • Dobber calls Mr. Peabody a “Mother fucker” when he sees him at the commissioner’s meeting.
  • After her speech to the commissioner did not go so well, Liberty says, “That bastard has the whole commission under his thumb!”
  • Dobber says his dad’s cancer, “sucks donkey balls.”
  • “Goddam Peabody” is a common expression used by Granny and Liberty. Liberty later adds to it, saying, “Fuck you, Peabody.”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • For Liberty’s first meal in her grandmother’s home, she has to say grace. “God is great. God is good. Let us thank him for our food. By his hands, we are fed. Give us Lord, our daily bread. Amen.”
  • Throughout the book, Liberty goes to church. Liberty describes church saying, “But I like it. Even the sermon, which always lasted forever when I was little, flies by, and before I know it, the preacher is announcing the final song.”
  • Granny tries to calm Liberty during her X-rays, saying “Whatever happens to me, the good Lord says if you build your house on solid rock, you gon’ be okay.”
  • Liberty and her Granny are very poor and have to live off food stamps. She describes grocery shopping as recreating “the miracle of the loaves and fishes at Kroger today.”
  • After she is diagnosed with cancer and she starts experiencing intense pain, Granny “reaches for her Bible. As I close the door, she’s opening the book to random pages and reading whatever her finger lands on. I hope whatever she finds brings her some comfort.”

by Matthew Perkey

Hey, Kiddo

Not everyone’s family is the same. Jarrett learned this at a very young age. Most of his classmates had a mommy and a daddy. But Jarrett’s family life is complicated. His mom is an addict who jumps in and out of his life. His dad is a mystery—Jarrett doesn’t even know his name. Jarett lives with his grandparents. Although his grandparents loved him, they could be very impatient and opinionated.

Now that Jarrett is a teenager, he wishes his life were normal. His grandparents send him to a Catholic high school, where he doesn’t know anyone. Jarrett’s trying to navigate a new high school, a drug-addicted mother, and new adolescent freedoms. Jarrett lives in a home where no one talks about his past, his parents, or his problems. Art is the only thing that brings Jarrett a sense of accomplishment. When Jarrett finally gets his driver’s license, he decides to confront his father and find his own identity.

Hey, Kiddo is a powerful memoir in a graphic novel format that explores the painful effects of drug addiction. Throughout the story, the author shares artifacts from his youth, including original letters from his mother and drawings he created when he was young. The easy-to-read format shows Jarrett’s narration and thoughts in burnt orange boxes to distinguish them from the conversation bubbles. The drawings appear in shades of gray with splashes of burnt orange. Although the drawings are not beautiful, they perfectly convey the dark tone, Jarrett’s hectic life, as well as show the array of negative emotions the characters feel.

Although Jarrett’s grandparents clearly love him, they are far from perfect. His foul-mouthed grandmother is often more concerned with her television shows than Jarrett. Jarrett’s grandfather is emotionally unavailable but teaches Jarrett about the value of hard work. The one constantly good thing in Jarrett’s life is his next-door neighbor and best friend. The two boys are completely different but stick by each other through difficult times. The story highlights that people do not have to be perfect to have a positive impact on someone’s life.

Many readers will be able to relate to Jarrett’s complicated relationship with his family. When it comes to his mother, Jarrett feels anger, hate, resentment, and love. One example of Jarrett’s conflicting emotions is when he has a hard time picking out a Mother’s Day card for his mom because no cards fit their relationship. Jarrett thinks, “Hallmark didn’t make cards that said, ‘Even though you did all of those drugs, you’re still a swell mom!’ or cards that read, ‘Hey, remember all that time you spent in jail and missed, like, every aspect of my childhood.’”

Even though Hey, Kid is a graphic novel, it contains mature themes and language. While the sentences on each page are short and simple, the words have an impact and highlight the harsh environment in which Jarrett lived, as well as the often frightening events in Jarrett’s life. The book ends with a detailed author’s note explaining more about his life. In the author’s note, Jarrett says, “Your childhood realities do not have to perpetuate themselves into adulthood, not if you don’t let them.” Hey, Kid is an impactful story that will make readers think about the true definition of family. Jarrett’s memoir is both heartbreaking and hopeful because it proves that circumstances do not have to define you.

Sexual Content

  • When Joe went on his first date with Shirley, they kiss.
  • Jarrett explains how his birth parents met. His mother met a man at “my father’s family’s bar. . . However they found each other, they did, and they managed to hide it from my father’s girlfriend. And then my mother got pregnant. . .My father backed off, claiming that the baby wasn’t his. Supposedly, his girlfriend started spreading stories about how my mother had been sleeping around, so the baby could belong to anybody. And sure, she had been sleeping around, but my mom knew he was the father as soon as I was born—I was white. All of her other boyfriends hadn’t been.”
  • When Jarrett was little, he walked into his mother’s room when she was in bed with a man. His mother yelled at him, “I told you not to come barging in here! Get back to your room!”
  • While watching the Price is Right, Jarrett’s grandmother watches a contestant go to the front, and she says, “Well this one looks like a tramp with her tits all flapping about.”
  • When Jarrett is getting dressed in the locker room, a boy laughs at Jarrett’s chest hair and says, “Nice chest vagina.”
  • A comic that Jarrett drew was printed in the newspaper. The comic shows two people getting ready to go into a dance. One boy’s quote bubble says, “Hey man, you got any protection?” The other boy’s quote bubble says, “What kind? Guns, knives, or condoms?”
  • Jarrett paints a mural of Napoleon, the school mascot. The light switch is on Napoleon’s private area.
  • Jarrett goes to a party where kids are drinking alcohol and one couple is making out. Someone yells, “Dude! Get a room!”

Violence

  • Two men show up at Jarrett’s mom’s house covered in blood and holding a knife. Although there are no words, the pictures show Jarrett’s mom helping the men clean up and dispose of the bloody clothing.
  • Jarrett’s hand gets stuck in an escalator, and someone pulls it out. The picture illustrates Jarrett’s bloody hand. His grandmother asks him, “What the hell were you thinking?” When he goes to school, Jarrett’s middle finger is sticking up in a huge bandage.
  • At a pool party, Jarrett and his friends put a flame to hairspray and accidently catch a stuffed animal on fire. They throw the stuffed animal in the pool.
  • Jarrett’s mother introduces Jarrett to her boyfriend. She tells Jarrett, “He had a tough childhood, watched his mother burn to death.”
  • After the cops show up at a party, Jarrett runs. Several boys see him walking and beat him up. A boy said, “You were looking at my girlfriend?” The fight is drawn over two pages. One boy holds Jarrett’s friend so he can’t help. Three other boys start punching Jarrett.” When Jarrett gets home, his grandfather tells him, “I told you nothing good happens after 11. . . This is what happens when you go ‘out.’ Now go to bed.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Often when Jarrett’s grandfather came home from work, “the front door would open and the smell of alcohol would fill the house.”
  • When Jarrett’s grandmother “was rally drunk” she used “foul language.” Once she tells Jarrett and his grandfather, “You are all a bunch of fecking assholes!
  • Jarrett’s mother was an addict, and “she’d steal anything to sell it for heroin.” Once, Jarrett’s grandfather sees a notice in the newspaper. After reading it, he tells Jarrett, “Well, if you were wondering where your mother has been, her name is here in the paper. They found her O.D.’d face down on the pavement.”
  • Jarrett and his grandparents go to a restaurant. Jarrett jokingly tries to order a “Southern Comfort Manhattan, gray with a twist, rocks on the side.” Jarrett says, “I had my grandparents’ drink order memorized. Ice on the side so they could fit more liquor in the glass.”

Language

  • Profanity is used often throughout the book. Although most of the characters use profanity occasionally, Jarrett’s grandmother uses it to the extreme. Profanity includes assholes, bitch, bastard, damn, goddamn, hell, holy crap, piss, fuck, son of a bitch, and shit.
  • When Jarrett’s mother found out she was pregnant, his grandmother “called her some terrible names.” Jarrett’s grandmother’s words are in large, orange letters and include: “goddamn mulatto baby! slut! You whore! prostitute! Hussy! Tramp!”
  • Jarrett’s grandmother calls her husband a “son of a bitch and a bastard.”
  • Oh dear God, for Christ’s sake, Jesus Christ, and Jesus, Mary and Joseph are used as exclamations often.
  • Jarrett’s mother was caught stealing, and she and Jarrett are taken to the police station. Jarrett’s grandfather tells her, “Les, you stay on this track and you’re gonna fuck up so bad that he’ll be taken into custody.”
  • A boy calls Jarrett a “wussy.” A different boy calls Jarrett a “faggot.”
  • While at the cemetery, Jarrett’s grandmother tells him, “And when I’m gone, I’m sure everyone will be saying ‘Thank god that bitch is dead.’”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • Jarrett’s grandfather would go by the cemetery to see his parents, and “he always makes sure we stop and say a prayer for them whenever we are here.”
  • When Joe and Shirley married, their parents weren’t happy about the union. “It was a controversial union—Joe’s parents were Catholics who’d immigrated to the U.S. from Poland, while Shirley’s parents were Protestants who’d immigrated from Sweden.
  • Jarrett attends Holy Name, a Catholic high school. While at the Catholic School Jarrett is bullied by older boys. Jarrett tells his grandfather that “Holy Name is filled with a bunch of assholes.”
  • Jarrett’s half-sister asks if Jarrett will be at her first communion.

Far From the Tree

Grace always thought she was going to attend homecoming with her boyfriend, Max. All the pictures, suits, dresses, makeup, heels—it was supposed to be one of the happiest, most memorable nights of her life. However, after Grace gives birth to Peach, her and Max’s baby—Grace finds herself giving Peach away to adopted parents on homecoming night. After giving Peach away, Grace is desperately alone and decides to find her own biological mother.

As Grace searches through adoption paperwork for any information on her birth mother, she learns she has a biological sister and brother. Maya lives close by, but in a family where she feels she does not belong. After years of group homes Grace’s brother, Joaquin, now lives with foster parents. After a few awkward encounters at a local coffee shop, the three teenagers find out they have more in common with each other than they first thought. Together, they search for their mother, and along the way, they learn what truly defines a family.

Three diverse characters. Three diverse families. Three diverse storylines wrapped up into one magnificent book. Grace, Maya, and Joaquin are unique, well-developed characters each with their own problems. Grace feels alone in the world and finds it difficult to love. Maya feels as if she does not fit into her adopted family because her parents love their biological child more. Joaquin loves his foster parents but is scared to be adopted by them. Together, the three friends help each other cope with their problems. Their combined effort will show readers just how strong the ties of family and friendship are.

Although best suited for older readers, Far from the Tree paints a perfect picture of teenagers in modern-day society. Readers will feel as if they are one with Maya, Grace, and Joaquin and will empathize with them as they struggle against their inner demons. The siblings deal with a multitude of problems including racism, bullying, teen pregnancy, substance abuse, and mental health issues. The dilemmas the siblings face are authentic and will have readers in tears. Benway also dives into the problems that adopted children face and the bullying and torment they often encounter in school and foster homes.

Although the story is easy to read, the heavy topics, profanity, and sexual content make this book more appropriate for older readers. The three main characters each have a different perspective on the issues they encounter throughout the story, so every reader will be able to identify and relate to at least one of the characters and their struggles. Altogether, Benway creates a story of three teenagers against the world. Far from the Tree will tug on readers’ heartstrings and leave them with a new world perspective.

Sexual Content

  • Maya asks Grace if she had a boyfriend. Grace answered “yes,” and “Maya wondered if Grace was lying. Grace seemed like the kind of girl who would wait her whole life so she could lose her virginity on her wedding night, who would read Cosmo articles about How to give him the best blow job of his life! but never actually say the word blow job.”
  • Joaquin reminisces about the first time he kissed his girlfriend. He thinks, “The very first time she had kissed him, he had panicked at how soft she was, how hot her mouth felt, and he didn’t understand how someone with such cold hands could have such a warm heart.”
  • While eating in a sandwich shop, Rafe and Grace sit close to each other. Grace thinks that “no boy had been this close to Grace since the night she and Max had the sex that produced Peach, but she didn’t scoot away from him.”
  • After fighting, Maya and her girlfriend Claire decide to make out. “Maya smiled again, her teeth bumping against Claire’s mouth.” Maya says, “Because nothing’s more hot than making out behind the gym at school.”
  • When Grace accidentally falls in Rafe’s arms, “Grace knew what she was supposed to do in the TV-show version of this moment: kiss him. She knew what she wanted to do: kiss him. And she knew what she couldn’t do, not just yet.”
  • Maya asks Grace if intercourse with Max was good. Grace says, “At least tell me the sex was good. If you have to get pregnant and have a baby, the sex should be mind-blowing.”
  • After breaking up with his girlfriend, Joaquin sees her kissing Colin. Joaquin describes this encounter in detail saying, “They were kissing, Birdie’s long arm wrapped around Colin’s neck the same way that she used to wrap it around Joaquin’s. If he thought about it too much, Joaquin could almost feel the warmth of her skin, the heat of her mouth, the way she always smelled good, like soap and shampoo.” One of Birdie’s friends runs up to Joaquin after the encounter and insists that she is doing it to make him jealous.

Violence

  • When Maya was in third grade, Emily Whitmore explained how Maya’s sister would always be loved more than her because she is a biological child. Maya could still remember “Emily’s face as she explained the ‘facts’ to her, could still remember the sharp, cutting way she’d wanted to put her eight-year-old fist right through Emily’s smug little mug.”
  • After being harassed about having a baby with Adam, “Grace didn’t know what moved first, her body or her hand, but then she was flying over her desk like she was running the hurdles in gym class, her fist out so it could make clean contact with Adam’s face. He made a sound like someone had let the air out of him, and when he fell backward, his desk trapping him against the floor, Grace pinned him and punched him again. She hadn’t had this much adrenaline since Peach had been born. It felt good. She even smiled when she punched Adam for the third time.” Grace and Adam are both taken to the office, and Grace has to be homeschooled for the rest of the year. This scene takes place over two pages.
  • After going out for dinner, Maya finds her mom on the bathroom floor, “crumpled like a baby bird that had fallen out of its nest, and there was blood coming from her head, staining the marble floor that was freezing cold under Maya’s bare feet.” Maya’s mom had fallen after drinking too much.
  • The siblings are meeting at a coffee shop when Adam appears and harasses Grace yet again for having a baby. “Maya was about to do something, say something, anything to release the pressure that she felt exploding her chest, when suddenly Joaquin was up and moving so fast that no one saw him coming. In one smooth motion, he had Adam up against the wall, his forearm pressed across his chest, and Adam looked wide-eyed and scared, a fish out of water.” Joaquin threatens Adam, and Adam never hurts Grace again. This scene takes place over two pages.
  • Joaquin discusses his anger management issues. During one of his temper tantrums when he was younger, Joaquin threw a metal stapler at Natalie, a toddler that Joaquin’s former foster parents, the Buchanan’s, loved. After it hit her in the head and knocked her unconscious, Mr. Buchanan let out a roar and grabbed Joaquin and threw him against a bookshelf, breaking Joaquin’s arm. “Joaquin could still hear the crack of bone, one white-hot pain replacing another, but nothing was as loud as the sound of Natalie falling to the floor.” This scene takes place over two pages.
  • Aunt Jessica describes a truck accident. The woman “was twenty-one, crossing the street, and she got hit by a trucker who ran a red light. He said he didn’t even see her. She died instantly, they said. She didn’t suffer. I worried about that, but that’s what they told us.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • The night Maya got caught sneaking out with her girlfriend, Maya “had met up with Claire in the park, smoking a joint that Claire had stolen from her older brother, Caleb.”
  • Maya’s mom is an alcoholic, and Maya finds her hidden wine while looking for some costume materials. When Maya pulls boots from the closet, she thinks that “they were heavy when she pulled them out, though, way heavier than any boots should have been, and by the time she’d wrestled them out of the closet and into the bedroom, the bottle of merlot had fallen out. Maya looked at it for a long minute before reaching into the other boot and pulling out a half-full bottle of red zinfandel.”
  • Maya and Grace smoke a joint, much to Joaquin’s surprise. He asks, “Are you supposed to be smoking weed?”

Language

  • Profanity is used frequently. Profanity includes asshole, boobs, slut, idiot, damn, and variations of shit and fuck.
  • Oh My god is used as an exclamation often.
  • After Maya reminisces about being bullied for being adopted, Maya says, “Other kids could be real assholes.”
  • When they pulled up to Maya’s house, Grace’s dad whistled under his breath, and her mom said, “Oh my God, I knew you should have worn a suit.”
  • Joaquin realizes that he has two sisters and exclaims, “Holy shit.”
  • After breaking up with Birdie, Birdie’s friend Marjorie says, “You’re a real asshole you know that?” to Joaquin.
  • At school, Grace was called, “Slut, baby mama, Shamu – the list went on.”
  • When Grace sits down at her desk on her first day back, “Someone had carved SLUT into the fake wood desk, but she wasn’t sure if that was for her, some other girl, or just the product of some bored junior who had a limited vocabulary.”
  • Adam makes fun of Grace by saying, “Grace! Hey, are your boobs all saggy now?”
  • Rafe finds Grace crying in the bathroom after her fight with Adam and says, “Shit, I’m sorry, I’m so bad when people cry.”
  • When Grace asks Maya how school is going, Maya answers, “Sucks donkey balls.”
  • Joaquin likes “Ana’s no-bullshit approach to therapy.”
  • Joaquin thinks that his younger self was “a fucking idiot who fucked everything up.”
  • Maya says, “Everything is so fucking fucked up.”
  • Joaquin was scared of being adopted because he thought his birth mom would come back for him. He says, “It’s stupid, I know, it’s so fucking stupid. I was such an idiot.”
  • Claire freaks out after her parents question her about her relationship with Rafe, and says “If I can’t move forward and like someone and make friends and, God forbid, fall in love again, then I don’t understand why I gave up my baby in the first place!” She ends the argument by saying, “And you can tell Elaine from down the street that what I do is none of her damn business.”
  • After Maya continues to annoy Grace while driving, Grace says, “Maya, I swear to God.”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • Maya jokes with Grace about why she got grounded, saying “I snuck out last week to practice devil worship with these kids I met in a cornfield.”
  • Maya remembers how Lauren cried after her fish died. Maya “would still swear on a stack of Bibles that she hadn’t touched that creepy, scaly thing. Lauren was paranoid and a terrible fish parent, that was all.”
  • When Grace dips her fries in mayonnaise, Rafe says, “Mayonnaise, it’s the devil’s condiment.”
  • Jessica says, “Oh. Thank God ” after she learns that Grace has great parents.

by Matthew Perkey

Ghostopolis

Garth Hale is going to die, but he is still surprised when he is accidentally zapped into the ghost world by Frank Gallows, a washed-up Ghost wrangler. Frank doesn’t believe in himself, but he’s determined to fix his mistake and bring Garth home. But getting Garth home isn’t going to be easy. The power-hungry, evil ruler of Ghostopolis wants to trap Garth. With Garth under his control, the evil ruler can tighten his grip on the spirit world. While in the ghost world, Garth meets his grandfather, who promises to help Garth return home. With the help of a bone horse, his grandfather, Frank Gallows and others, Garth may just find a way out of the ghost world.

TenNapel creates a complex, interesting ghost world using comic-style illustrations that do an exceptional job showing the character’s emotions. Younger readers will enjoy the many multi-paged, action-packed panels that contain onomatopoeias like “shink, hack, putt, snuff.” The story contains surprising pockets of humor that will make the reader laugh out loud. However, many younger readers may not understand the historical reference to Benedict Arnold, which adds to the story’s humor.

The plot is not necessarily original, but the ghost world does have frightening, fantastic creatures. Integrated into the plot are lessons about not giving up, using your imagination, as well as the fact that children do not need to make the same mistakes as their parents. Garth meets his grandfather, who illustrates the idea that it’s never too late for second chances, even if you’re a ghost.

A man named Joe created Ghostopolis. Joe is similar to Christ, and although he is portrayed in a positive manner, his appearance in the story is random and does nothing to advance the plot. The story does contain a love triangle, and although the relationship happened before the story began, one of the characters comes to realize that, “Love is in the acts, not in the feels.”

Ghostopolis uses a creative story about the afterlife to focus on relationships. Younger readers will enjoy the spooky adventure that allows a boy to be friends with a bone horse. Older readers will appreciate the story as it explores family relationships. Ghostopolis will engage readers because of the easy-to-read text, spooky spirit world, and protagonist that they can root for.

Sexual Content

  • Claire, who broke up with her boyfriend, tells him, “If I had known what a slime you were, I’d have left you even sooner!”

Violence

  • A dog bites Frank on the nose.
  • When Garth gets to the afterlife, dinosaur skeletons chase him. The scene is illustrated over nine pages.
  • Bugs on four-wheelers chase Garth and his grandfather, but they are able to hide.
  • Bugs try to capture Garth, who uses his power to get away. During the fight, Frank tries to help Garth, but an old woman hits him. Then Frank’s friend hits the old woman, and a brawl begins in the street. The fight is illustrated over eight pages.
  • In order to save the boy from the bugs, Frank grabs him out of a flying vehicle. Grandpa hits the bug in the face. Garth eventually uses his power to whap the bug. The scene is illustrated over four pages.
  • A skeleton holds a sword against a woman’s throat and leads her away. Garth and Frank follow. The woman is not injured.
  • The story ends with an epic battle over 54 pages. The bugs attack and kill the bone king. The villain pulls a gun on Garth’s friends. In the end, Garth uses his power to defeat the evil villain, who flees and then comes back. The villain grows large and throws a man. He is defeated in the end.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Garth’s mother tells him, “Grandpa was a drunk.”

Language

  • Heck and crud are used once.
  • Frank calls Benedict Arnold a jerk.

Supernatural

  • Garth is accidentally zapped into the afterlife.

Spiritual Content

  • When people die and go to the afterlife, they go to a city called Ghostopolis, which was created by “A mysterious Tuskegee airman named Joe. He made every mountain you see, laying one chunk of sand at a time. He stacked every brick in Ghostopolis so that ghosts would have a place to live. . . Joe is a mysterious guy. Most of us have never even seen him. We only know him by the work he’s done.”
  • Garth meets Joe, who is helping people leave Ghostopolis through a crack in the wall. He helps the children, the widows, and the infirm go first. Joe will not take Garth through the crack, because “it’s not for you. . . yet.” Joe tells Garth, “I know a lot of things about you, Garth. And I’m rooting for you anyway.”
  • The afterlife has seven kingdoms—the bone kingdom, the mummies, the specters, the wisps, the zombies, and the boogeymen.
  • In the afterlife, people “get put back to our internal age. It gives us a chance to take care of unfinished business.”
  • After the villain throws a man, and when someone saves him, the man says, “Thank God!”

Anya’s Ghost

Anya just wants to fit in with the other kids. But, she knows that she’s not like them. She’s embarrassed of her Russian heritage, self-conscious about her body, and she only has one friend at school. After a particularly bad day at school, Anya distractedly walks home and falls into a well.

Anya didn’t expect to find a new friend at the bottom of the well, especially not one that has been dead for a century. Anya thinks the ghost is just what she needs to make her life better. But Anya’s new BFF isn’t telling the truth about how she ended up dead in a well. Can Anya trust her ghostly BFF or will Anya’s new friend turn into her worst nightmare?

Brosgal’s fantastic artwork brings Anya’s terrible teenage years to life. The illustrations capture Anya’s conflicting emotions and her angst as she navigates high school. After Anya’s family immigrated to America, Anya was bullied which caused her to turn away from her heritage. In order to fit in, Anya has learned to talk without an accent, as well as look like all of her classmates. However, Anya still struggles with making friends, she has insecurities about her body, and she is angry about life in general. Anya’s character is incredibly real—she is snarky, sarcastic; she sulks and sneers her way through life. Although Anya acts like many teens, she is not a role model. She’s rude to her family, unmotivated to do well in school, and sneaks out of class to smoke cigarettes. Despite Anya’s negative attitude, readers can still learn powerful lessons from the less-than-perfect teen.

Anya is self-centered and only thinks about herself. At first, when Anya meets her ghost, she just wants the ghost to disappear from her life. But when the ghost helps her cheat on a test, Anya thinks having a ghost around might not be so bad. Anya is so self-centered that she doesn’t even ask the ghost her name until the ghost becomes helpful. Anya also treats a Russian boy terribly. Anya doesn’t want to associate with the Russian boy at her school because he’s “fresh off the boat.”

The story also portrays teachers in a negative way. The teacher doesn’t notice when Anya sneaks out a classroom window. Another student complains about the P.E. teacher who makes them complete the physical fitness test because “he just likes watching us run around in these stupid skirts.” Then when Anya trips in class and the other girls jump over her, the teacher says, “Ladies! If we are all done losing ourselves in Anya’s derriere, we have a test to finish.”

Despite the negative aspects of the books, the story will make readers reconsider how they treat others. The story highlights the courage it takes for teens to embrace their differences instead of trying to blend in with the crowd. Anya’s Ghost uses real-life situations and humor to show how it feels to be an outsider. Anya wishes that she was skinnier, had more friends, and had a different last name. But thanks to Anya’s spooky, demanding ghost, Anya learns to appreciate her life, even if that means embracing her Russian heritage. Anya’s Ghost is comical, compassionate, creepy, and will engage even the most reluctant readers.

Sexual Content

  • Anya has a crush on Sean. She sees Sean in front of the school, kissing a girl.
  • When someone teases Anya, her friend tells the girl, “Hey, Katy, I heard about your nice moves in the boys’ bathroom today.”
  • Anya tells her friend that Sean talked to her. Anya’s friend replies, “Are you sure he wasn’t talking to your boobs?”
  • Anya fantasizes about kissing Sean. In the fantasy, the two dance, and then Sean says, “Oh Anya, let’s have an intense spiritual relationship for no believable reason.” To which Anya replies, “Oh, Sean, Take me away!”
  • To go to a party, Anya dresses in a short skirt and a low-cut shirt. When she looks at herself, she says, “this feels kind of slutty.” When Anya gets to the party, a boy tells her, “Your boobs look spectacular in that shirt.”
  • At a party, Anya finds Sean’s girlfriend outside a door. Anya can hear a girl giggling inside the room. Sean comes out of the room and briefly flirts with Anya. Then Sean tells his girlfriend, “Maybe a bit more of a signal next time, Liz?” Sean’s girlfriend reveals that the girl in the room is another boy’s girlfriend.
  • Anya decides she doesn’t want anything to do with Sean because “he’s upstairs making out with Amber.”

Violence

  • The ghost, Emily, tells Anya that she fell into a well and died, but “it didn’t hurt. But I couldn’t move or talk. I got very thirsty and then I died.
  • The ghost tells a story about how her parents were “very religious” and would offer to let passing people sleep in the barn. One man who “seemed like a good Christian” killed her parents. When Emily “woke up from a dream and came downstairs, he was standing over my parents’ bodies, ready to go upstairs for me.” Emily ran and fell down a well, where she died.
  • When Emily was alive, she had a crush on a man. When she sees the man with another woman, Emily killed them both. Emily says, “He said I was ugly! He broke my heart!”
  • The ghost tries to hurt Emily’s mother by turning on the stove burner and poisoning the food.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Anya and her friend skip class so they can smoke cigarettes.
  • During a conversation, Sean says that his friend gets “kind of freaky when he’s drunk.”
  • Anya goes to a party, where it’s implied that teens are drinking.

Language

  • Profanity is used frequently. Profanity includes: ass, badass, crap, goddamn, and whore.
  • Anya’s friend tells her, “I heard about you down that freakin’ well for two days! That’s so badass.”
  • God, my God, and Oh my God are used as an exclamation frequently. When the ghost sneaks up on Anya, Anya says, “Jesus, Emily! You scared me to death!”
  • A girl tells Anya’s friend, “Screw you.”
  • When a girl teases Anya, her friend tells her, “forget about that whore, Anya.”
  • A girl says her brother said Sean was a dirtbag. The same girl says that Sean is a manwhore.
  • Anya says that Emily is “just a pissy cloud.”

Supernatural

  • Anya falls into a well and meets a ghost, who “can’t go very far from my bones.”

Spiritual Content

  • Anya falls into a well. When she finds food in her backpack, she says “Oh, Thank God.” Later, when someone finds her in the well, she again says, “Oh, Thank God.”
  • There is a picture of Jesus on the wall in Anya’s house. When Anya cusses, her mom tells Anya not to “swear in front of Jesus.”
  • Anya refuses to go to church with her family. When her mom tells Anya people are worried about her, Anya asks, “Because I’m sick or because I’m going to hell?” Later Anya tells the ghost that she doesn’t want to go to church because “orthodox church is weird.”

Every Moment After

After the gunshots were silenced. After the victims were buried. After the place of terror was torn down. Eleven years after the tragedy, survivors still grapple with the effects. Recent high school graduates Matt and Cole still deal with the guilt and questions. Everywhere they go, there are reminders of those who died. It is impossible for them not to ask, why didn’t I die? How can I move on?

Matt was not at school on the fateful day that his classmates were massacred. The fact that he was spared from witnessing the events has caused guilt to consume him. Matt obsesses over what would have happened if he had been at school that day. Did he cheat death? Was he actually meant to die? Caught in a downward spiral, Matt’s rash actions temp fate to take his life.

Meanwhile, after the shooting, Cole became the face of the tragedy because a photo of him being carried from the scene went viral. Cole would prefer to hide in the shadows, but now everyone recognizes his face. When people ask him about the shooting, Cole cannot give them answers. Even though he survived, he cannot remember what happened that day. On top of his amnesia, Cole is dealing with the recent death of his father and his mother’s depression.

Every Moment After is a gripping story that focuses on the survivors of a mass shooting. The story alternates between Matt’s and Cole’s points of view, which allows readers to feel the emotions of both victims. Written by a clinical psychologist, Every Moment After accurately explores topics of survivor’s guilt, grief, and changing relationships. As the two friends struggle to cope, they learn that “you don’t have to do it all at once. You just have to get through one breath at a time. One moment at a time.” However, both Matt and Cole sometimes find it difficult to move on, even one breath at a time.

In a time where mass shootings frequent the nightly news, Every Moment After explores a topic that many teens may have questions about. Matt and Cole are relatable characters struggling with questions about the past as well as their futures. As the boys take their first steps towards adulthood, their long-term friendship with each other is a crucial component in their journey. The boys’ friendship highlights the importance of having at least one person who has and will always love you, just as you are.

Every Moment After will leave readers thinking about gun control and the effects of mass shootings. It will take readers on an emotional, tearful journey, providing new insight and empathy for anyone who has suffered a great loss. In the end, the story makes it clear that “there are some things you can’t leave behind. They cling to you like cobwebs. They leave you with empty spaces. And the only thing you can do is to keep on going, as well and as gracefully as you can, without your missing parts.”

Sexual Content

  • Matt trades drugs with a boy. In exchange for the stories, the boy wants Matt to tell him stories about sex. Matt tells the boy about when he had sex with his girlfriend. Matt begins, “The first time, we were at her house. In her, uh, well, in her parents’ bedroom.” The description ends here.
  • Cole finds condoms under his father’s bed and wonders who they could belong to. He knows they don’t belong to the nurse because “she was pretty open about liking other girls and telling us all about her girlfriend.”
  • Cole uses a pseudonym when he submits poetry to be published. When he tells his friend, she says his pseudonym “sounds like the name of a porn star.”
  • Matt and Sarah go to the lake. Sarah “steps toward me, and before I can say anything or move or even take a breath, her lips are on mine. She still tastes like lemonade. . . before I can think of something to say, she kisses me again and pulls my shirt off and reaches for my belt, and by the time she’s pulling the Red Sox shirt off over her head and wriggling out of her shorts, I’m self-conscious that I’ve never been naked before. Even with Rosie, I kept a surprising amount of my clothing on. . .” Matt compares Sarah and Rosie and thinks, “I never wanted Rosie the way I want Sarah now.” Although it is clear that Matt and Sarah have a sexual relationship, the sex is not described. The scene is described over two pages.
  • After Matt stays the night at Sarah’s house, “I bend over and kiss one perfect nipple.”
  • A girl that Cole likes tells her about a conversation she had with an ex-boyfriend. She says, “It’s just that it’s a bit hard to really be comfortable with someone when they’ve seen you naked, isn’t it?”
  • Cole thinks about a girl. “I wonder where her bedroom is. I wonder how I could see her naked.”
  • Matt tries to figure out what story to tell about his ex-girlfriend. He thinks, “I mean, I only have so many of them. It’s not like Rosie and I were screwing every single day.”
  • Someone asks Cole, “Are you telling me that Matt Simpson is boning the daughter of the cop who’s carrying you in the picture?”
  • Matt goes into a bar and yells at an off-duty police officer. Matt says, “You want me to tell you what it’s like with her, Lucas? I know you think about it all the time. Because it’s nuts dude. I’ve seriously got scratch marks all up and down my back. You should fucking hear her. . . She always likes it on the living room floor, Lucas.”
  • Cole walks into his house and “the smell of weed overwhelms me.” When he goes into the living room, he sees two people. “One of them is my mother, and the other is a man with longish white hair. She’s leaning back, and he’s sort of half on top of her, kissing her.” When they see Cole, they are upset. The man leaves, while Cole and his mother have a talk.
  • Cole kisses the girl he likes. Cole takes “the final step, and before I have time to think about the blood in my mouth or about any of those other reasons that this is an unreasonable thing to do, I kiss her. . . I kiss her with my broken lip, and when I stop and step back, her eyes are closed.”

Violence

  • When a dog bites Cole, he yells, “Fuck you, you stupid little bastard. Fuuuuuuck you.” Cole is not seriously injured.
  • While at the lake, Matt and Cole come across some boys that are shooting garden gnomes. When one boy talks badly about Cole, Matt defends him. “Matt brings his left hand around in a wide, perfect swing. His fist arcs through the air, and in the moment before he strikes Ponytail’s face, I see the kid’s expression: surprise and fear, like a little boy’s. . . And then there’s a smack; I should be able to come up with a better way to describe the sound, but that’s exactly what it is, a loud smack of flesh-on-flesh, of Matt’s fist driving into the side of the guy’s face. . .” Ponytail boy falls down and the fight ends.
  • Later in the book, Matt thinks about the fight. “. . . Before I could even realize what I was doing, my hand had come around and made solid contact with Ponytail’s face, dropping him to the ground. I would have kicked him, too. Standing over him, I was lining myself up. I was going to break his fucking ribs. Crack them all. I wanted to kick him in the balls so hard they’d bust.” Matt didn’t do any of these things because Cole stops him.
  • When Matt yells at an off-duty police officer, the man hits him. “I’m on the ground before I know it; he drives down and I can feel the floorboards shudder as I hit them. My head snaps back, and there’s a burst of light in front of my eyes. He’s on top of me, his knee grinding into my groin, a flurry of punches to my chest and face.” The fight continues until Matt is knocked out.
  • When Cole gives his contact a bag of useless pills, the man hits him. “I never see Eddie’s fist coming; it catches me on my lower lip, and then I’m on my back in the grass, looking up at him, dazed.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Matt’s parents have a party where wine is served.
  • Matt wakes up in his truck hungover, and sees an “empty bottle of vodka is on the floor on the passenger side.”
  • Cole talks to a student who “reeks of pot.”
  • Someone offers Cole a bottle with vodka in it. Cole declines because “I don’t feel like vodka.”
  • Cole and Matt collect prescription pills in order to trade them. Cole collects his dead father’s pills and also fills an outdated prescription. Matt is able to get pills from someone he knows.
  • Matt injures his arm during baseball and the doctor gives him a prescription. Instead of taking the pills, he uses them to trade.
  • When Matt and Cole give their contact the drugs, there is a prescription for Percocet as well as other “good shit.” Later, Matt gives their contact another bag of pills. The contact gets angry because the drugs are “generic erectile dysfunction drug that was discontinued three years ago because it put people in the hospital with boners that wouldn’t stop.” The other pills in the bag are ibuprofen.
  • Cole’s mother is prescribed antidepressants after her husband dies.
  • When Matt goes to see a friend, he talks to the father and “can smell the liquor on him now.” Later when Matt goes to pick up the friend, the father’s “eyes are red-rimmed, and I can smell that the drink in the mug isn’t coffee.”
  • Cole and Matt drink a couple of beers while they are at the lake. Cole explains, “Dad left lots of beer in the garage. I doubt that Mom even remembers it’s out there, and she definitely has no idea exactly what and how much he had, so I can drink some whenever I want.”
  • Matt sneaks into Cole’s garage and gets drunk. When Cole finds him, Matt says, “It is your dad’s beer, Cole, and I apologize for drinking it.”
  • Cole has lunch with some people from school. One boy talks about a party where people were drinking and smoking pot.

Language

  • Profanity is used excessively and appears on almost every page. Profanity includes bitch, crap, crappy, damn, damnit, fuck, motherfucking, pissed, goddamn, hell, and shit.
  • My god, Christ, and Jesus are used as exclamations often.
  • A boy flips off a group of reporters.
  • When a boy is shooting garden gnomes, he yells “I’m gonna do it this time faggots.”
  • When Cole sees an ex-girlfriend, he acknowledges her because “there’s no point in being an asshole.”
  • While working on a class project, a girl tells Cole, “Holy fucking Christ, Cole, do I love Eliot.”
  • Cole says, “I’m sorry for being a dick.”
  • Matt calls someone a dick. Later Matt thinks he is being a “pussy.”
  • Someone calls Matt a “cocksucker.”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • Cole thinks that one reason that his mom is having difficulty grieving for his father, is because his parents were atheists. “. . . All of their friends were atheist too. Which is fine, but it’s not very good for dying.”
  • After the school shooting, one of the parents would invite the other kids to a birthday party for her dead daughter. “She says something about how Susie was watching from heaven and that Susie loved all of us.” Cole thinks, “no one’s watching anyone from heaven.”
  • A girl says her father is “an ardent conservative. He’d say that people will kill each other no matter what; you can’t regulate it away. That Cain killed Abel with a rock.”
  • Matt is drunk when Cole finds him. Cole thinks, “I hope to God he was at least a bit sober when he drove here.”

Paper Girl

Zoe hasn’t left her family’s Denver penthouse in over a year. Doctors continually tell her that her anxiety will get better if she takes little steps, but she knows that she can’t do that. That would mean going outside into the real world, and the thought of that is too terrifying to contemplate. It is much better to stay inside where it is safe, in a world that she constructs out of paper. Nothing can hurt you inside. Nothing can scare you.

Everything changes when her mom decides to hire a tutor for Zoe. But it isn’t just any tutor. . . it’s Jackson, a friend of her older sister Mae. Jackson is the only person from the outside world that Zoe wishes she could see. He’s the boy that she has been thinking about non-stop for a year. How can she let him into her world?

Zoe’s world is flipped upside down as Jackson enters her life and makes her realize that the world outside her door might not be as scary as it seems. The story doesn’t just focus on Zoe, but also shares Jackson’s perspective. Jackson faces many difficulties as he deals with homelessness, an alcoholic father, and the struggle of raising money for college.

Zoe and Jackson don’t realize that they have been communicating while playing online chess together. For over a year, they have been sharing their problems with each other. Online is the only place that they feel free to share their struggle. Will the two ever be able to connect in person? Paper Girl is a captivating read that sheds light on the diverse struggles of adolescence.

Paper Girl discusses mental health at length, as the main character has debilitating anxiety that restricts her from leaving her home. She often meets with therapists and doctors in order to grapple with her illness. Through first-person narration, the audience is able to feel her struggles firsthand, giving a vivid picture of life with a mental illness. Jackson’s father is also depicted as a rampant alcoholic, and although the audience never directly sees him in this state, it is referenced frequently. The characters face realistic hardships, which at times will disturb readers. However, Zoe and Jackson’s story also highlights the importance of having compassion for others who are trying to navigate life. The story does not only focus on the character’s hardships but also adds in a satisfying romantic plot.

Paper Girl is a delightful and easy read, making it an enjoyable experience for the audience despite having some heavy subject matter. The depth and relatability of the characters draw readers in, inviting them to enter Zoe’s paper world. The small details of the characters’ interactions and the sweet romance create an endearing charm that keeps readers on the edge of their seats, eager to see what happens next.

Zoe’s family is an integral part of Zoe’s journey, and although they are not always understanding, they truly want what is best for her. Another positive aspect of this story is that therapy is portrayed in a positive light.

Zoe’s journey is powerful, as she and the audience learn how to battle inner demons to live a fulfilling life. Beautifully written, Paper Girl is a must-read that has relatable characters who struggle with anxiety and are afraid of being judged by others. Paper Girl will evoke emotions of frustration and sadness, as well as give readers a message of hope.

Sexual Content

  • Zoe’s parents kiss in a scene, making her feel mildly uncomfortable. “Dad kissed Mom on the lips long enough to make me cringe.”
  • In Zoe’s fantasy world, she would “flirt with [Jackson] a little.”
  • Zoe’s fear of seeing Jackson was, “the equivalent of the naked dream.”
  • When Jackson’s elbow brushes Zoe’s, he thinks, “her skin was so smooth and warm and I wanted to touch it again.”
  • When Zoe thinks about Jackson wanting to get to know her, it “makes my whole body buzz.”
  • Mae teases Zoe about Jackson and says, “You think he’s hot and you want to kiss him?”
  • Mae kissed her boyfriend, Robert, “all the time, and even though I made faces, she seemed to like it.”
  • Zoe fantasizes about Jackson and thinks, “Jackson’s kisses were probably like his smiles. Overwhelming. Brilliant.”
  • In another fantasy, Zoe imagines that she and Jackson would walk around Denver. “He’d kiss me, right in the middle of the sidewalk. He’d slide his hand down the hem of my shirt, where a sliver of bare skin was exposed and—”
  • Gina, Zoe’s therapist, tells her a story of when she was in college and threw up on a guy’s shoes. “I offered to take him out that weekend, and though he didn’t want new shoes, he still went out with me. And we dated for a year.”
  • There is a scene where Zoe and Jackson stand on a balcony staring out at the night sky. During the entire scene, Jackson has his arms around Zoe’s waist.
  • Mae says that Zoe “has it soooo bad” for the comic book character Mr. Fantastic, and that he has “sexy glasses.”
  • Mae casually asks Zoe if Jackson is a good kisser. When Zoe says that she has yet to kiss him, Mae recommends that she, “pull him over to Mercury and say something about gravity not working or something then kind of fall into him. . . with your lips.”
  • Zoe and Jackson share their first kiss. “His found mine without hesitation. They were warm, like his hands, and softer than I expected. Gentle. My mouth parted, ready to say his name, but he took this as an invitation to step even closer, so his hand slid up my back and the other found my cheek with those same warm fingers.” Later, after trying again, Zoe says, “I was right, Jackson was a great kisser, and I never wanted him to stop.” They kiss several more times throughout the novel.
  • After they kiss, Jackson’s “fingers slid up my spine, making my world tilt.”
  • When Zoe tells Jackson that she wants to make a paper asteroid belt, he says, “Oh God, you make that sound sexy.”
  • While they are making out, Jackson is surprised when Zoe, “shifted in my lap to straddle my legs.” After this, the elevator unexpectedly dings, surprising them, and they hastily get up to look normal. Jackson “yanked down the front hem of my shirt to cover the effect Zoe had on me.”

Violence

  • Mae and her friends play a game when they watch horror movies, where they compete to see who comes closest to guessing the number of people who will die. Some of the movie is described. “She fired off another shot. The killer collapsed in a heap . . . In a last burst of unnatural and bloody vengeance, the Prom Night Slasher jumped on Alisha, using his bare hands to strangle her.”
  • Zoe worries that Jackson’s dad, who is an alcoholic, had “gotten violent.”
  • Zoe’s therapist, Gina, got jumped in college. “‘He had a knife. I tried to fight, but. . .’ She pushed aside her scarf to reveal a jagged scar that ran down her neck to her collarbone. ‘It almost killed me.’”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Jackson’s dad is referenced many times as being an alcoholic and a drug addict. Eventually, he goes to rehab and gets his life back on track.
  • Jackson is homeless. His father still receives his mail and official paperwork, so he isn’t caught by social services, but “I wasn’t sure how much of that agreement Dad remembered, since he’d made it while working toward an epic high on heroin.”
  • Jackson thought his Dad had sold his clothes “for drug money.”
  • When Jackson’s Dad calls him for the first time in months, he grows suspicious and thinks of his schedule. His dad, “didn’t typically start the party until two a.m. First, a few beers, then tequila, and if that didn’t get him where he wanted, he’d hit the heroin.”

Language

  • Profanity is used frequently throughout the book. Profanity includes: damn, hell, crap, bastard, shit, holy shit, and dammit.
  • Jackson’s online chess partner was “kicking my ass.”
  • Zoe calls her math makeup homework “crappy.”
  • Jackson said that he’d been, “riding a ship through the shit storm of life with my father at the helm.”
  • Oh my God, God, and oh God are used as exclamations several times.
  • Jackson calls Zoe a “badass.”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

by Morgan Filgas

Genuine Fraud

Imogen, the heiress of a wealthy New York family, has run away from her responsibilities to her family’s mansion on Martha’s vineyard. Jule is her best friend…or so she thinks. Jule is a social chameleon, becoming whoever she wants to be and getting rid of whoever is in her way. But does that include Imogen?

Told backward, Genuine Fraud tells the story of two girls and their intertwining fates as they navigate the adult world that they long to be a part of. However, this is no charming tale of growing up and friendship, but a dark thriller that takes the reader on mysterious twists and turns. The reader never knows who to trust as they delve deeper into the story. At the end of the story, the reader is confused by questions that are never truly answered.

Although the Genuine Fraud has an exciting premise, the story never quite lives up to the promised thrill. Instead of ending with a narrative payoff, the plot feels like it traveled in a circle. Because the main mystery isn’t solved, it doesn’t really matter what happens in between. At the end of the book, there are so many questions that were not answered that the reader will be left wondering why they suffered through to the end.

Fans of We Were Liars will be disappointed with the lack of charm and relatability of all of the characters. Both Jule and Imogen are not sympathetic figures, and they never connect with the audience. Although Imogen is constantly presented as “fun” and “bubbly,” she comes across as a spoiled rich girl running away from minor problems. Instead of creating unique characters, the characterization relies on overdone tropes and stereotypes.

This book is not suitable for younger readers as it is a thriller that uses a fair amount of profanity and violence. The main character Jule is constantly using brute force to get what she wants. This enables several disturbingly gory scenes that may be too much even for older audiences. These factors, combined with a plot that fails to fully draw the reader in, contribute to the overwhelmingly disappointing nature of Genuine Fraud.

Sexual Content

  • The head soccer coach at Stanford “was a perv… touching all the girls.”
  • Jule gets a ride from a bartender named Donovan, and when he suddenly becomes predatory, she wonders, “Was Donovan one of those guys who thinks a girl who wants a favor has to mess around with him?”
  • Jule describes herself as “brutal,” but says, “that’s [her] job and you’re uniquely qualified, so it’s sexy.”
  • When Jule tried to think of better times, she “remembered the feel of Paolo’s lips on hers.”
  • Imogen’s boyfriend, Forrest, is a main character in the novel, and they often kiss.
  • When Jule goes to Las Vegas, a woman asks her if she is a “working girl,” and tells her “don’t sell yourself.” Jule is not a prostitute but was just wearing heavy amounts of makeup.
  • When Jule was in an arcade, “two boys she knew from school came up behind her and squeezed her boobs. One on each side.”
  • When Forrest comes to Jule to find out information about Imogen who is missing, he asks her, “Did you want to sleep with her?”
  • Jule tells Forrest that she had three boyfriends during her time at Stanford.
  • Imogen thought she was pregnant and spent “all week skipping class and reading people’s abortion stories on the internet. Then one day I finally get my period.” Her boyfriend then broke up with her after she told him the news.
  • When confronted with a boy she had once kissed, Jule thinks she “didn’t need a guy, wasn’t sure she liked guys, wasn’t sure she liked ”
  • Jule makes out with Paolo. “He kissed her then, under the streetlight… He kissed like he couldn’t imagine wanting to be anywhere else on the planet, because wasn’t this so nice, and didn’t this feel good?”
  • Brooke had “a series of boyfriends and one girlfriend, but never love.”
  • Imogen “hooked up” with guys while at college, making it hard to hold on to a boyfriend. These events are not described, just referenced.
  • Brooke goes to the Academy of Sciences in San Francisco with Lupton because she wanted to “get in his pants.”
  • Jule gets an email from Vivian that reported, “that she was in love with Isaac Tupperman and she hoped Imogen would understand because there is no controlling the human heart.”
  • Jule talks to a couple at a bar who are arguing over the movie Pretty Woman. The woman dislikes the movie because she says, “The perfect girlfriend is a whore who does ya for free. Disgusting.” The couple later discusses how Julia Roberts’s character is a sex worker.
  • Jule tells Imogen a story from high school when her track team had a “full-on naked battle, in the showers, three against one.” Imogen remarks that it sounds like a “prison porno movie.”
  • Imogen hires an attractive housecleaner named Scott. Imogen’s friend wanted him to “wash my grapes, strip down, and lick my whole body from head to toe.”
  • Jule goes to the grocery store and when she comes back, “Imogen and Forrest were naked, wrapped around each other in the swimming pool.”
  • Imogen tells Jule a story about when she stayed in London for a summer program and her roommates were “absolutely going at it on the floor of the kitchen one day, like fully nude and yelling. I must have walked in at just a major effing moment, if you know what I mean.”

Violence

  • Jule sees “a scar wound down her right forearm, jagged, like from a knife, not clean like from an operation” on a woman that she meets and thinks, “There was a story there.”
  • Jule believed, “the more you sweat in practice, the less you bleed in battle.”
  • Jule creates a false origin story about herself in which her eight-year-old self finds her parents “in the grass facedown. Their bodies are crumpled and limp. The blood pools black underneath them. Mama has been shot through the brain. She must have died instantly. Papa is clearly dead, but the only injuries Jule sees are on his arms. He must have bled out from his wounds.” In this story, Jule is shot in the ankle and is taken to a specialized academy to be trained, similar to a spy. This is just a story that she tells about herself, and it isn’t actually true.
  • After feeling swindled by Donovan, Jule “brought her forearm up hard, snapped his head back, and punched him in the groin…. Jule grabbed his slick hair and yanked his head back…. He jabbed with one elbow, slamming Jule in the chest…. Donovan kicked out, hitting her in the shin. Jule punched him on the side of the neck and he crumpled forward….Jule grabbed a metal lid from one of the nearby trash cans and banged it on his head twice and he collapsed on a pile of garbage bags, bleeding from the forehead and one eye.”
  • Imogen had two marks on her upper right arm that, “the nurse at Vassar told me they were burns. Like from a cigarette.”
  • Jule spread a story saying, “Imogen Sokoloff had killed herself in that selfsame river, weighing her pockets with stones and jumping off the Westminster Bridge, leaving a suicide note in her bread box.”
  • When Jule was fifteen, two boys squeezed her boobs. In retaliation, she, “elbowed one sharply in his soft stomach, then swung around and stomped hard on the other one’s foot. Then she kneed him in the groin….When that boy bent over, coughing, Jule turned and hit the first one in the face with the heel of her hand.”
  • Jule murders Brooke, and it is vividly described. “She swung once, hard, coming down on Brooke’s forehead with a horrid crack…Brooke’s head snapped back….Jule moved forward and hit her again. This time from the side. Blood spurted from Brooke’s head. . . She got Brooke’s legs, which scrabbled on the ground. . . and lurched her up and over [the railing]. . . here was a dull crack as her body hit the tops of the trees, and another as she landed at the bottom of the rocky ravine.”
  • When Jule gets drunk, she tells a woman about a boy who threw a slushy in her face. She then, “brought up my knee and caught him in the jaw. Then I swung the shoe…. I brought it right down on the top of his head…. I hit him with the shoe, again and again…. He lay with his mouth hanging open…. Blood out his nose. He looked dead.” She didn’t actually kill him, but did cause serious damage.
  • Jule murders Imogen when they are on a boat together and get into an argument. “The paddle end hit Imogen in the skull. Sharp edge first. Immie crumpled…. She brought the board down on that angel face. The nose cracked, and the cheekbones. One of the eyes bulged and gushed. Jule hit a third time and the noise was terrific, loud and somehow final.”
  • Scott, Imogen’s housecleaner, kills himself. “He had hanged himself with rope from a beam high up in a neighbor’s barn. He had kicked out a twenty-foot ladder.”
  • Jule’s father, “bled himself out, naked in a bathtub.”
  • Noa, a private detective hired to find Imogen, discovers Jule at a resort in Mexico. Jule attacks her. “Noa’s head jerked back, and Jule swung the suitcase hard. It hit Noa in the side of the skull, knocking her to the floor… Noa hit the floor and scrambled for Jule’s ankle with her left hand while she reached toward her pant leg with the right…. Jule steadied herself against the wall and kicked Noa in the face.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Jule hangs out at a bar in Mexico where she is staying at a resort and talks to the bartender, Donovan, about the drinks that he makes.
  • When walking through José del Cabo, Jule sees many American tourists who were, “all drunk and loud.” Many of them were “getting sloshed after a day of sport fishing.”
  • Imogen’s birth mother died by overdosing on meth.
  • Imogen’s father, Gil, died of a long-term illness and the characters often discussed how he had to take a lot of pills.
  • Jule had dinner in Vegas where she saw “a crowd of drunk guys [who] barged in talking about beer and burgers.”
  • Imogen asks Jule about the party scene at Stanford and asks, “With no beer and people being all intellectual?”
  • In the story that Jule creates about Imogen killing herself, she writes a suicide letter that says, “By the time you read this, I’ll have taken an overdose of sleeping pills.”
  • A drunk girl asks Paolo if he wants to get a drink.
  • Brooke’s death is seen as an accident. Paolo tells Jule that, “they think she’d been drinking. She hit her head and nobody found her till this morning… They found her car in the lot with an empty vodka bottle in it.”
  • Jule got drunk for the first time at the island of Culebra. “Jule’s drink arrived. She drained it and asked for another. And another.”
  • A man that lived on Culebra told Jule that he “had a little marijuana business…. I used to grow it in my walk-in closet with lights and then sell it…. But the cops busted me.”
  • When Imogen was in Culebra, she “drank a lot. She had waiters bringing her margaritas poolside.”
  • The people who hung out at Imogen’s Martha’s Vineyard house were, “funny and nonathletic, chatty and rather alcoholic, college kids or art students.”
  • Jule’s roommate, Lita, had friends that came over, “speaking Polish and smoking cigarettes.”

 Language

  • Profanity is used frequently throughout the novel. Profanity includes: damn, hell yes, effing, fuck, dick, fucking, fuckload, and shit.
  • The hotel that Jule stayed at in Cabo San Lucas was a “bloody great hotel.” Jule frequently used the word “bloody” when she was pretending to be British.
  • Jule had, “watched a shit-ton of movies.”
  • Imogen calls herself and others an “asshole” a few times.
  • God and oh God are used as exclamations a few times.
  • Paolo says that it is “hellish” to talk to his mother on the phone.
  • Brooke’s roommate “bitched” because Imogen was in their room so early.
  • Brooke said that “Vivian was a huge witch to me.”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual

  • Imogen is Jewish and “celebrated all the Jewish holidays and, when she grew up, she had an unorthodox bat mitzvah ceremony in the woods upstate.”
  • Shanna tells Jule that she “can have anything if you set your mind to it. You pray and you, like, visualize.”
  • A drunk man on a beach sings, “God rest ye merry gentlemen.”
  • When Brooke asks Jule if she is Jewish, she responds, “I’m not anything…I don’t celebrate.”
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