Gr 10 Up-When her older sister dies from an arrhythmia, 17-year-old Lennie finds that people are awkward around her, including her best friend. While dealing with her conflicted feelings toward her sister's boyfriend, her anguish over Bailey's unexpected death, and her sudden curiosity about sex, Lennie must also cope with her unresolved feelings about her mother, who left when Lennie was an infant. Debut author Nelson expertly and movingly chronicles the myriad, roller-coaster emotions that follow a tragedy, including Lennie's reluctance to box up her sister's belongings and her guilt over bursts of happiness. The portrayal of the teen's state of mind is believable, as are the romanticizing of her absent mother and the brief scenes of underage drinking and sexual exploration. Chapters are typically anchored by brief snippets of Lennie's writings. This is a heartfelt and appealing tale. Girls who gobble up romantic and/or weep-over fiction will undoubtedly flock to this realistic, sometimes funny, and heartbreaking story.-Jennifer Schultz, Fauquier County Public Library, Warrenton, VA Copyright 2010 Reed Business Information.
When Lennie's older sister dies suddenly, she is devastated, but she also starts realizing she no longer has to be the "companion pony" to the "thoroughbred" that was her dazzling sister. Living her own life proves difficult, however, both because it "doesn't seem right that anything good should come out of Bailey's death" and because of complications that arise when she falls in love with a talented musician in the school band. This honest, complex debut is distinguished by a dreamy California setting and poetic images that will draw readers into Lennie's world, particularly in the notes Lennie writes about life with her sister on bits of paper and even trees ("I button one of her frilly shirts/ over my own T-shirt./ ....I always feel better then,/ like she's holding me"). The author perhaps creates a few too many vibrant characters and plot points (Lennie also searches for her missing mom and discovers secrets Bailey was hiding). Even so, readers will be moved by Lennie's ability to admit to even some of her most unpleasant feelings and motivations, and her growing willingness to live "full blast." Ages 14-up. (Mar.) Copyright 2010 Reed Business Information.
"This honest, complex debut is distinguished by a dreamy California setting and poetic images that will draw readers in to Lennie''s world." -"Publishers Weekly", starred review
"It+s romantic without being gooey and tearjerking without being campy-what more could a reader want?" -"BCCB", starred review
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Reviews
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ut this book, IMO, is in a whole league of it's own.
The writing is intensely beautiful. Oh - I did some serious sentence-crushing. Reading this was like being submerged in emotion and love and all things wild and mad and crazy and the grief was just so poignant and the feelings so real that I became completely absorbed.
The love story.
Whoah.
So, there's this kinda love triangle. By that I mean, two guys, both getting some action from Lennie. But it's not an ordinary love triangle or cliché - to the point that even saying triangle somehow feels wrong.... it's like the characters are so fused with emotion that it bubbles over and explodes in love and moments of passion. The complications in this didn't feel like a contrived plot point, but like a real character driven mess of pain and desire and world-crushing love. I also didn't think it was a manipulative device to tear up readers, and there's no choosing of teams, just an ache for Lennie and Joe and Toby.
And the love between Lennie and one of her men. It's intense, and an all the way full-blown connection, more so than most YA I read. However, due to the stunning writing, I was into it the whole way. I believed in it, for sure :) Sigh...
I was so into the love scenes but in the midst of it, a little knot of tension was gnawing away in the pit of my stomach the whole time. Takes a talented author to get to me like that.
Basically, this book hit me hard emotionally.
I haven't said much about the actual plot - it's best if you just get in and read it. I don't know if my review has really done this book justice..?
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