We Weren't Looking to Be Found

by Stephanie Kuehn Narrated by Luzma Ortiz, Sarah Hollis

Overview

Two young girls. Two disparate stories. One unlikely friendship.... Dani comes from the richest, most famous Black family in Texas and seems to have everything a girl could want. So why does she keep using and engaging in other self-destructive behavior? Camila's Colombian-American family doesn't have much, but she knows exactly what she wants out of life and works her ass off to get it. So why does she keep failing, and why does she self-harm every time she does? When Dani and Camila find themselves rooming together at Peach Tree Hills, a treatment facility in beautiful rural Georgia, they initially think they'll never get along-and they'll never get better. But then they find a mysterious music box filled with letters from a former resident of PTH, and together they set out to solve the mystery of who this girl was . . . and who she's become. The investigation will bring them together, and what they find at the end might just bring them hope. From award-winning author Stephanie Kuehn comes a breathtaking tale of friendship and healing. Both poignant and timely, We Weren't Looking to Be Found is complex, hopeful, and heartbreaking all at once.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

"A compelling and thoughtful exploration of mental health by way of an unexpected—and beautiful—friendship forged during the darkest of times. Stephanie Kuehn writes fearlessly, honestly, and tenderly about the challenges of recovery and We Weren't Looking to Be Found is a hopeful, affecting, and important book."—Courtney Summers, New York Times best-selling author of Sadie and The Project

"We Weren't Looking to Be Found tells a story of mental health and girlhood with tenderness, nuance, and above all, raw honesty. Nobody hurts, heals, and surprises like Stephanie Kuehn."—Dahlia Adler, author of Cool for the Summer

An insightful, grounded, and compassionately messy meditation on adolescence, institutional support, and helping oneself.—Kirkus, starred review

Both teens narrate in the first person, giving an intimacy and immediacy to their struggles with depression and addiction that feel authentic. This may be triggering for some teens but a lifesaver for others, as the bittersweet ending is hopeful while acknowledging that recovery is rarely straightforward.—Booklist

Kirkus Reviews

★ 2022-04-13
Two teenage girls’ paths intersect at a low point in their lives, but where they go from there is anything but certain.

Danielle Washington and Camila Ortiz meet at Peach Tree Hills, a suburban residential treatment facility for adolescent girls outside Atlanta, where they’re roommates as well as the only brown-skinned girls. Originally from a well-off Black political family in Dallas, Dani’s relationship to addiction and dependency is the primary focus of her recovery, but her resentment toward her mother and how that impacts her sense of self is complicated even further by learning to be honest with herself. Similarly, Cams has self-harm tendencies that her Latin American parents—one a Colombian immigrant and one Mexican American—in small-town Georgia have struggled with for some time. Kuehn is careful not to offer easy answers for why both girls find themselves in overlapping and distinct moments of despair and desperation, self-harm and self-sabotage, but the connections among family, race, and the widespread societal harm inflicted upon young girls in particular are presented thoughtfully in the dueling narrations of these two deeply intelligent and expressive teens. Dani and Cams complement each other well as earnest storytellers and, eventually, reluctant friends, but their experiences are as raw as their struggles may feel futile. Still, the professionals in the novel provide a tremendous and optimistic amount of care.

An insightful, grounded, and compassionately messy meditation on adolescence, institutional support, and helping oneself. (content warning, resource list) (Fiction. 13-19)

Product Details

BN ID:	2940175345453
Publisher:	Disney Press
Publication date:	06/21/2022
Edition description:	Unabridged

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