A tense and unsettling portrait of a family torn apart by a predator in its midst.
A teenage girl runs away from her home to escape her stepfather in this revised edition of a YA novel by the author.
Fifteen-year-old Maggie tells her mom she’s going away on a weekend camping trip with a friend, but really, she’s planning to run away. The problem is Richard, her mother’s new husband, whom they recently moved in with. Her mother, Peg, thinks Richard is a sweetheart—though she realizes he’s a bit controlling, and she doesn’t like that he’s started drinking a lot since losing his job. She can’t understand why Maggie has been so difficult lately. What Peg doesn’t realize is that Richard has been touching Maggie inappropriately. Maggie gets on a bus to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania—a place she seems to have chosen because she saw its name on an old school notebook of her mother’s—and she’s unknowingly following in Peg’s own footsteps when she ran away as a teenager. Maggie has taken Peg’s journal with her, which leads her to discover things about her mother’s past that she never suspected. Meanwhile, back at home, Richard tells Peg that Maggie has been behaving suggestively toward him. “I hate to have to tell you this,” he says, “but, she was blatantly coming on to me. I had to physically push her away from me. She started to attack me then, and I had to restrain her.” Will Peg believe him, or will she discover the truth in time to save her daughter from making the same mistakes she once made? The point of view alternates between Maggie and Peg, revealing how blind Peg is to Richard’s behavior: “He only had one beer tonight, and he’ll drink less when our financial issues are resolved. There’s really no reason to give up on our marriage. He’s very loving and tender, and he is doing his best to be a father to the girls, even when Maggie’s been awful.” The novel takes a while to get going, and several of the chapters seem superfluous to the plot. That said, the book realistically portrays an instance of sexual abuse and how one parent might be blind to it—even if that blindness is somewhat willful.
A tense and unsettling portrait of a family torn apart by a predator in its midst.Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-9855270-3-7
Page Count: 270
Publisher: Durare Publishing
Review Posted Online: April 3, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind.
In this companion novel to 2013’s If He Had Been With Me, three characters tell their sides of the story.
Finn’s narrative starts three days before his death. He explores the progress of his unrequited love for best friend Autumn up until the day he finally expresses his feelings. Finn’s story ends with his tragic death, which leaves his close friends devastated, unmoored, and uncertain how to go on. Jack’s section follows, offering a heartbreaking look at what it’s like to live with grief. Jack works to overcome the anger he feels toward Sylvie, the girlfriend Finn was breaking up with when he died, and Autumn, the girl he was preparing to build his life around (but whom Jack believed wasn’t good enough for Finn). But when Jack sees how Autumn’s grief matches his own, it changes their understanding of one another. Autumn’s chapters trace her life without Finn as readers follow her struggles with mental health and balancing love and loss. Those who have read the earlier book will better connect with and feel for these characters, particularly since they’ll have a more well-rounded impression of Finn. The pain and anger is well written, and the novel highlights the most troublesome aspects of young adulthood: overconfidence sprinkled with heavy insecurities, fear-fueled decisions, bad communication, and brash judgments. Characters are cued white.
A heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind. (author’s note, content warning) (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781728276229
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head.
The finely drawn characters capture readers’ attention in this debut.
Autumn and Phineas, nicknamed Finny, were born a week apart; their mothers are still best friends. Growing up, Autumn and Finny were like peas in a pod despite their differences: Autumn is “quirky and odd,” while Finny is “sweet and shy and everyone like[s] him.” But in eighth grade, Autumn and Finny stop being friends due to an unexpected kiss. They drift apart and find new friends, but their friendship keeps asserting itself at parties, shared holiday gatherings and random encounters. In the summer after graduation, Autumn and Finny reconnect and are finally ready to be more than friends. But on August 8, everything changes, and Autumn has to rely on all her strength to move on. Autumn’s coming-of-age is sensitively chronicled, with a wide range of experiences and events shaping her character. Even secondary characters are well-rounded, with their own histories and motivations.
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head. (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: April 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4022-7782-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf
