Hardback, 256 pages
Published: November 8th, 2011 by Alfred a Knopf
Summary: Angelyn Stark has a secret.
One day, her neighbor and friend, Nathan, saw something happen. Something between Angelyn and her stepfather. Then he told his grandmother, who was always looking out for Angelyn, and it turned into a mess. But Nathan didn't know what he was talking about then, and he doesn't know now.
Three years later, Angelyn is in high school and she thinks she's getting along fine--but there's a young teacher who wants to help her. He says she has potential she isn't living up to. Nobody has ever cared this way about Angelyn, not since Nathan's grandmother, anyway. But what does Mr. Rossi really want from her? And once Angelyn starts falling for him, does she really care?
My thoughts:
I didn't think that a book so simply written could have so much depth. By "simple" I mean that it was about 95% dialogue.
Angelyn is a girl who represses and denies everything that happened to her as a young girl and begins searching for the respect and love she feels she deserves from her boyfriend who just doesn't quite live up to what she wants. Then there's Mr. Rossi, a teacher who seems to get too close to her and she takes his intentions and turns them into feelings she shouldn't have. Searching for that love. She pushes too far sometimes, and as a reader I wasn't sure how far she'd go and how far Mr. Rossi would let her go. I was constantly on edge.
When a new girl, Jenni, arrives at her school, Angelyn doesn't want anything to do with her until she realizes the girls she thought were her friends begin to push her away. In Jenni, she learns what it means to have a real friend and someone who cares about you. I loved Jenni's character, she was there for Angelyn even when Angelyn wasn't there for herself.
I felt anger and disappointment towards Angelyn's mother. She seemed like the kind of mom you see around the poorer parts of town who seem to have nothing but negativity in their vocabulary, rage in their eyes & hate in their eyes. But, believe me, she turned my views on her around.
Angelyn's boyfriend, aggravated me, and even with his mild change of heart at the end, I still couldn't stand him and wished Angelyn would completely let him go. He seemed like the worst kind of person in her life.
I'd rather she would get to know Nathan again--after his true telling of what he saw while they were 13.
I'd recommend this to someone who wants to read something that has impact yet isn't 500 pages of words. It's a very very quick read that brought out every emotion possible. I may have shed a tear or two...!
4 out 5 stars!
I don't know about this one. I don't know if I can get into a story involving family members and teachers. I just don't think this one is for me.
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