Review: Surprisingly Compelling and Complex
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 10 9, 2012
There were so many things I enjoyed about this book, but having to put it down wasn't one of them. I don't have kids and only occasionally read YA. From those I have read, I wasn't expecting anything this compelling. Perhaps if I'd looked at the Table of Contents (the chapter titles are quite entertaining all by themselves), I might have been prepared, and scheduled my time accordingly. Stacy's voice (first-person) is hard to resist. She's smart and sarcastic, yet not overly so, and no more mature (or immature) for her age than her experiences would lead her to be.  Her dry humor helped me through some of the hard parts (as I suspect it did her), while not much made it easier (for either of us) to get through the most painful parts. She reminded me how intensely we feel things at that age because I felt right along with her. Everything about this story was handled so well--the characters, the dialogue, the emotions (from happy to sad to numb), the pacing, the drama, the relationships, the ending, and everything else I'm forgetting--all of it was well-balanced and felt so right. It's hard for me to believe this is a debut book. I can't wait to buy this for a teen I know.