LASSO THE MOON

April Hunter, a high-school senior, lives with her father, a recovering alcoholic, on an island off the coast of Georgia. A cardiologist, Dr. Hunter lost his lucrative hospital job in Atlanta and practices medicine out of his home, often treating illegal immigrants. One such patient, a young Salvadoran refugee named Fernando, becomes April's unlikely romantic interest. At first she is indifferent to him, but after a few conversations and a moonlit horseback ride on the beach she falls in love. His tragic background not only moves her but helps her to understand her sad childhood and complex relationship with her father. She helps him hide from agents of the Immigration and Naturalization Service; when they part, she has learned to love herself and others. Covington (Lizard, 1992, etc.) creates a believable, always likable heroine in April, who narrates. But any insights her story offers may be overwhelmed in the rambling confusion of this oddly paced tale. (Fiction. 12+)