Senior Becky Martin, who has a loving family, a terrific best friend, and good grades, is slowly making a place for herself in San Francisco’s stand-up comedy scene. But she hasn’t felt successful in dating until she meets Kip, another aspiring comic. In an absorbing first-person narrative, Becky describes her relationship with Kip in which he gradually changes from adoring her to becoming controlling and jealous, and then hurting her physically as well as emotionally. Pages from Kip’s journal reveal that his father, now gone, had been abusive and that Kip feels like a loser and hates himself for hurting Becky. Details such as Becky’s increasing distance from friends and family ring true, although it may still be hard for readers to understand why someone so seemingly well-loved at home feels so inadequate. While not quite as insightful as Sarah Dessen’s Dreamland (2000), this should find a place in all libraries that serve teens, many of whom will recognize aspects of their own relationships in Becky and Kip’s. (Fiction. YA)
