The main characters in these three books, including one from a Utah author, are teen girls facing personal or family tragedy.
"LOVE, LUCAS," by Chantele Sedgwick, Sky Horse Press, $16.99, 269 pages (f) (ages 13 and up)
Seventeen-year-old Oakley Nelson and her parents are reeling from the loss of Oakley's 19-year-old brother, Lucas, to cancer.
As “Love, Lucas” opens with Lucas’ funeral, Oakley feels a hollowness, and in the ensuing days, she finds it difficult do more than grieve for her brother. She graduated early from high school so she could be with her brother at the hospital, and she's lost interest in her hobbies of playing the guitar and taking pictures.
Oakley and her mom leave wintry Salt Lake City for Huntington Beach, California, to stay with Oakley’s Aunt Jo for a few months.
At Aunt Jo’s house, Oakley’s mom gives her a give from her brother: a notebook of letters he wrote to her after he found out his cancer was terminal. She decides to read a letter day. In them, he shares amusing snippets of life in the hospital, offers some reflections and encourages her.
Oakley also meets Carson Nye, whose family owns a local surfboard shop. They strike up a friendship, and he offers to give her surfing lessons.
As Oakley and Carson spend time together, he continues to give her space to heal and Oakley realizes that she likes him as more than a friend — and that scares her. She doesn’t want to love someone and then lose him and feel like she did after her brother died.
Utah author Chantele Sedgwick has woven an emotional tale of a teen girl healing from an incredible loss, including a gamut of moods as she tries to figure out what’s next for her in life, the roller coaster of crushes and first kisses, and parents with their own marital issues.
Told in first person from Oakley’s perspective as she navigates the twists and emotions that life brings, this book should be read with a box of tissues at hand.
There is no swearing and no described violence. The romance doesn’t go beyond kissing.
"SILENCE," by Deborah Lytton, Shadow Mountain, $17.99, 312 pages (f) (ages 13 and up)
Stella Layne’s life goal is to make it to Broadway someday. Although shy, the 15-year-old sophomore works up the nerve to audition for the school play, and she gets the lead in “West Side Story” as the novel “Silence” begins.
Stella goes to a party the night before the performance and suffers a head injury. When she wakes up in the hospital, she can’t hear anything. Her world is now silent.
Hayden Rivers, the show’s pianist, went silent as a defense against his abusive mother. He now lives with his grandfather and stutters when he speaks.
As Stella adjusts to life without sound and looks forward to surgery to help her to hear again, Hayden proposes showing her one thing a day that she can do without hearing — 17 total. She accepts and begins to see, feel and experience different perspectives and how to express herself in ways other than singing.
Because Hayden stutters, Stella can read his lips and communicate well with him — better than just about anyone else. She swore off any romantic relationships after her parents’ divorce and her father’s remarriage, but she starts to re-evaluate that decision as her friendship with Hayden deepens.
Hayden has stayed in the shadows pretty much his whole life and fears what may happen when Stella gets her hearing back.
Author Deborah Lytton shows how help with healing as well as friendships can develop in unlikely situations, and how to experience the world without one of the senses. Her characters Stella and Hayden are easy to root for and care about as they’ve each been handed a situation they didn’t ask for and are doing the best they can to persevere and heal.
Lytton alternates between Stella and Hayden’s perspectives, which helps to share the thoughts and experiences of both characters and, as a result, gives more depth to the story.
“Silence” has no swearing and its romance doesn’t go beyond kissing. The only violence is implied.
"SAINT ANYTHING," by Sarah Dessen, Viking, $19.99, 417 pages (f) (ages 14 and up)
In “Saint Anything,” Sydney Stanford decides to make a fresh start by switching from a private school to the nearby public high school at the start of her junior year.
Sydney was used to being on the sidelines of her parents' attention even before her brother, Peyton, got into a drunk driving accident that left a teen forever needing a wheelchair.
Peyton is now in prison, and their mother’s laser focus is on him and his case. Their father is wrapped up in his career.
After the first day of school, Sydney spies Seaside Pizza and decides to get a slice before returning to her emotionally empty home.
There, she meets the Chathams, who own and run the restaurant. There’s Layla, who is also a junior and admits to having awful taste in guys along with being particular about her french fries. Mac is a senior who wants to go to college, but their dad is priming him to take over the pizza place. Their mother has multiple sclerosis, and their sister, Rosie, is an ice skater who is working her way back to performing.
Sydney is easily welcomed into Mac and Layla's circle of friends, including Mac’s bandmates and Layla’s ex-boyfriend Eric, and she is surprised at how open the family is. She’s even more surprised by Mac, who seems to see her in a light that no one else does, and she feels safe around him as they gradually open up to each other.
As Sydney navigates new friendships and interests while figuring out her relationship with her brother, the guilt of what her brother has done eats at her, and she wonders if one of them should apologize.
The cast of characters also includes Peyton’s friend Ames, who makes her uneasy and ends up moving into her home for a time, and Sydney’s friend Jenn, who is driven and went to her previous school.
“Saint Anything” looks at complicated family dynamics, including how the actions of one family member can impact the rest of the family. It’s an emotionally deep story that Sarah Dessen shares through the eyes of Sydney as the teen learns to speak up for herself and to figure out her relationships with family and friends.
It’s easy to get drawn into Dessen’s writing as she spins the story, which includes many pieces of backstories, and creates many likable but flawed characters — many of whom are simply trying their best. Dessen, of North Carolina, also includes some lighthearted moments along the way, including when Sydney learns to deliver pizzas and when she visits an abandoned carousel left in the woods.
“Saint Anything” has some swearing from a couple of characters. The romance doesn’t go beyond kissing, and there isn’t any described violence.
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