Faking 19
Grade 9 Up–By the time Alex is a senior, she is in danger of not graduating high school, something that no one could have foreseen a couple of years earlier. Her father is gone, her best friend, M., dabbles in drugs, and the teen wonders why she should care about anything. Every weekend, M. and Alex head down to L.A. to party at the hip clubs, pretending to be 19 in order to fit in. The initial fun soon wears off, though, when Alex realizes that she can't escape who she is. She must take a step back and reevaluate her friendship with M. as well as figure out what she wants to do after high school; clothes, music, and hanging out–her top three what I'm good at choices–aren't going to provide real prospects. Writing, the one thing that she's exceptionally good at, has always been her outlet and escape, but is it enough for her to start her future? Does she have the power to control her own life? Noël's debut novel is realistic and convincing. Alex and M. are fresh and endearing, and anything but superficial. First-person narration and situations dealing with sex, drugs, and alcohol make this a compelling look at one teen's broken life and how she fixes it. Readers will relate to both characters and their lives.–Erin Dennington, Fairfax County Public Library, Chantilly, VACopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.