Readers who know brazen, boy-crazy V from her aunt Mara’s perspective (Vegan Virgin Valentine, 2004), will enjoy her first-person narration here, which reveals no inner brashness but rather a struggle for—and against—emotional distance. V is now 17, a senior, expecting faraway mother Aimee to visit for graduation. Everyone except V recognizes Aimee’s flakiness; V’s ever-attentive grandparents try their best to fill in, but V misses Aimee, whose history of moving V around the country following men has formed V’s makeup more than she wishes to admit. V hooks up regularly with hottie Sam but steadfastly denies that their relationship is loving or serious. Desperate to stay detached, V cheats on Sam and he moves away. Driving across country to visit Aimee, V finally confronts her mother’s long-term absence and how it has informed V’s own boy-chasing. Eye-opening as a sequel yet solid on its own, V’s narration is simple and accessible as she learns to be brave. (Fiction. YA)
