Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly
Dessen's realistic portrayal of contemporary teens and their moral challenges breathes fresh life into well-worn themes of rebellion and first love. Halley has always been close to her mother, a therapist who publishes books about adolescent behavior. But the summer before her junior year of high school, Halley begins cutting the umbilical cord. She and her best friend, Scarlett, start hanging out with Ginny Tabor ("a cheerleader with a wild streak a mile wide and a reputation among the football team for more than her cheers and famous midair splits"); Halley dumps her nerdy boyfriend (the son of her mother's best friend) and becomes involved with reckless Macon, a boy her parents have forbidden her to see. Then Scarlett discovers she is pregnant two months after her boyfriend Michael is killed in a motorcycle accident. Walking a line between childhood and adulthood, the two girls turn to each other instead of their families for support. Together they explore the meaning of love, sex and responsibility. This romance/coming-of-age story is not as tightly written as Dessen's debut, That Summer; it suffers from some scenes reminiscent of soap opera and from flat presentations of almost all the adult characters. But Dessen's fully developed characterizations of charismatic teens, particularly the rebel-without-a-cause-type Macon, are sure to attract readersespecially those who, like Halley, have felt the urge to take a walk on the wild side.
School Library Journal
Quiet, predictable Halley and Scarlett, her feisty defender, have been best friends since grade school. Growing up like sisters, they've shared everything except a bedroom, dreams, clothes, classes, and Friday nights. Then boys step into their teen lives. Scarlett's romance the summer before junior year has serious consequences when Michael dies in a motorcycle accident and she's left carrying his child. Halley's close relationship with her psychologist mother is fractured as the girl's friendship with secretive, irresponsible Macon Faulkner deepens into romance. To top things off, Grandma Halley is dying. Halley and her classmates experiment with drugs, alcohol, and sex, and experience family problems. Asking questions and making choices, Halley confronts her fears and learns to make her own decisions on her way to adulthood. Dessen deals accurately, sensitively, and smoothly with growing up in suburbia. Halley and Scarlett's friendship resonates with affection and honesty, and the predictable but necessary separation of mothers and daughters is portrayed with tender acuity. Experiences and conversations avoid falling into cliche; all of the characters are fully developed and worth getting to know. Without preaching or posturing, Dessen has written a powerful, polished story. Gail Richmond, San Diego Unified Schools, CA
Horn Book Magazine
In this novel whose first-person voice is remarkable for it authenticity, Dessen more than fulfills the promise of her first book, That Summer. A great deal happens to Halley during her junior year in high school. Her best friend, Scarlett, becomes pregnant, a not-unheard-of event - "but for girls like us, like Scarlett, these things didn't happen. And if they did it was taken care of in secret, discreetly, and only rumored." Uncharacteristically, Scarlett decides to keep the baby. Halley falls in love with Macon, handsome and dangerous and one more secret she keeps from her mother, a psychologist who has written books describing the ideal relationship she has with her daughter. Halley thinks back to the summer before when she and her family had traveled to the Grand Canyon, a metaphor for the distance that has since opened up between her and her mother. The adults - Halley's controlling mother and her sympathetic but ineffectual father, Scarlett's childlike mother Marion - are drawn with as much care and (unusual in young adult novels) affection as the adolescent characters. Familial ties are strong. When Macon pressures her to have sex, Halley discovers that the values her parents have taught her are not that easy to brush aside. "We didn't talk or laugh as much anymore....Everything had narrowed to just going to his house, parking out by the lake and battling for territory while arguing about trust and expectations. It was like dealing with my mother." Dessen has a unique talent for distilling character in a few biting words, and she uses her sharp sense of humor to make her points without mawkishness. The penultimate scene, in which Scarlett heads straight from the junior prom to the hospital to have her baby, incorporates what seems to be a cast of thousands, including a Boy Scout troop and Marion with a group of faux-medieval revelers. It has a farcical quality about it that seems out of place in this otherwise solidly realistic narrative. But this is a minor quibble. The book hits home, from Halley's first serious relationship, to her ignorance over the details of sex ("I wasn't very clear on the logistics"), to her fascination with Scarlett's pregnancy. Adolescent girls will readily identify with Halley and will appreciate the book's honest explication of the things they really want to know.
From the Publisher
"Dessen has written a powerful, polished story." (SLJ, starred review)
