Sophomore Deanna Lambert made just one mistake to turn herself into the "school slut." Back in eighth grade, Deanna's father caught her having sex with a high-school boy. Nothing has been the same since that painful night, and Deanna's extremely dysfunctional family is not much help. There are just two people who are willing to take the razzing of being the friends of "slutty Deanna," and she misses her loving dad who has turned into a man who can neither look her in the eye nor give her any affection. She continues to make mistakes when vain hopes of leaving her folks' house with her brother, his girlfriend and baby are squashed. Ultimately, she resolves her anger toward the boy who seduced her, realizing she is repeating patterns and wants to change. Zarr's story ends on a hopeful but realistic note with everyone taking baby steps toward something approaching normalcy. This involving, touching first novel will resonate with those who have made mistakes and those who have not. (Fiction. YA)
Listen book lovers, we get it. Sometimes you want a book you can devour in a single day, maybe even a single evening. It’s May, the perfect time for picnics and quick reads—do you really want to have to close that book at the halfway mark, because the picnic is over and you’re totally out […]
Next week, Zeroes, by Scott Westerfeld, Margo Lanagan, and Deborah Biancotti, hits bookstores everywhere. The first in a trilogy that reads like a mashup of X-Men: First Class with season one of Heroes (we’ll just pretend those other seasons don’t exist), it’s a thick book of superpowered excitement that’ll leave readers anxiously awaiting the next installments. It’s the first in […]