Denial

by Lorna Schultz Nicholson

Overview

It's Nova's final year of high school and everything is on track for an amazing year.

She's going to ace all her studies and go on to be a doctor. She's got a spot on the swim team. And she's in love for the first time--with Leo, the captain of the swim team.

But things don't turn out quite like Nova had planned. As her relationship with Leo intensifies, so does her obsession with him and her jealousy over his so-called friendship with another girl. The tighter she tries to hold on to him, the more he seems to pull away. The constant worry about the future of their relationship sends Nova spiraling into depression. Even she can't believe how badly she's handling things now. But could there be another reason for it, one she doesn't even want to admit to herself?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781459416710
Publisher:	Lorimer Children & Teens
Publication date:	08/01/2022
Pages:	176
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.30(d)
Lexile:	HL490L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 9 Years

About the Author

Lorna Schultz Nicholson has written, produced, and hosted programs for television and radio, and is well known for her print journalism. She is now a full-time author who works from her home in Edmonton, Alberta.

Editorial Reviews

02/01/2023

Gr 10 Up—From a dramatic, italicized opening passage involving a lot of blood ("First things first. I need to clean up and destroy evidence."), readers are dropped into what seems a conventional high school narrative. Senior Nova Foley is dating Leo, a popular classmate and star swimmer. They're a sort of power couple. Both are looking forward to college, less affluent Nova staying in Toronto and living at home, Leo blithely heading off to Michigan and competitive swimming without her. After they celebrate her birthday with a first sexual experience, Leo begins to grow distant. Though he says he's consumed with swimming, he seems to be spending more time with swim teammate Jada. Gradually, Nova pitches from manageable depression into a mental health crisis, binge eating, completely withdrawing socially, and lashing out at Jada. The novel closes with a return to the opening scene and a wild plot twist that complicates Nova's ambition to pursue a path to medical school. Sex between the teens is a frequent topic, though it's never described in graphic detail. Despite some common tropes and occasionally breezy storytelling, the novel, written at a third grade reading level, confronts significant contemporary issues in a narrative that never flags. VERDICT Recommended for high school libraries.

School Library Journal

2022-07-13
A high school senior navigating her first serious relationship finds herself in unknown waters.

Readers first meet panicked narrator Nova in May: She’s covered in blood, setting a tense stage before the novel quickly flashes back to the beginning of the school year when everything was going her way. She was blissfully happy, in love with her star swimmer boyfriend, Leo, and at the top of her class with potential to become valedictorian. Eventually Nova quit swimming to focus on her studies. While balancing school and sports, she also debated when and where to lose her virginity. But shortly after they slept together for the first time, Nova sensed that Leo was pulling away, leading her down increasingly more desperate paths to keep him in her life. Moving through the course of the school year, the book flashes forward to scenes of Nova’s emergency, offering chilling glimpses of her plight. Unfortunately, the tone of the novel is forced and didactic. The stiff narrative is peppered with cringey slang terms, and the main characters’ dialogue feeds into dumb-jock and egghead stereotypes. Main characters are White; there is some ethnic diversity in the supporting cast.

A lackluster story that fails to deliver on its dramatic promise. (Fiction. 14-18)

Kirkus Reviews