Listeners meet Genesis, who is almost 18, as she leaves the clinic where she has just had an abortion. Abandoned by her boyfriend, who was supposed to wait for her, Gen must fend for herself, as she has done since her father’s death several years earlier and her mother’s subsequent descent into inconsolable grief. As narrator, Bonnie Pipkin’s flat affect and deliberate pacing are wholly appropriate to Gen’s struggles with loss and her search for stability and love. Divided into first-person monologues and flashbacks crafted as scenes from a play, this is sometimes a challenging listen, but perseverance pays off in compelling characters and honest emotions. Pipkin’ s sincere connection to the story brings additional depth to her reading of this journey from despair to hope. S.G. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine
We came to summer to do two things: chase the ice-cream truck and read new releases. And we just ran out of Choco Tacos. This list just scratches the surface of the delights in store for readers in the hot months, but it’s a good place to start when stuffing your “I’d rather be reading Leigh Bardugo” […]
Some people are fantasy fanatics, some people swear by sci-fi, and some people find heaven in historical, but personally, I’m cuckoo for contemporary and all of its subgenres, from thrillers to coming of age to straight-up romance. If you’ve already devoured the contemps I was most excited about in the first half of the year, good […]
June has finally arrived, which means it’s OFFICIALLY summer (get thee behind me, June 21 truthers). Starting next Tuesday, a flood of beautiful new reads will hit our book totes, greedy hands, and hearts, from a love letter to book nerds, to long-awaited sequels, to a glorious romantic romp through an 18th-century continent. Make your […]
Reproductive choices are a forever relevant topic, especially in YA, a category rife with stories about romance, sex, girlhood, empowerment, and coming of age. For teens in schools where abstinence is taught as the only choice of birth control, books like those below, which center around abortion, adoption, and/or teen parenthood, can provide vital education. […]