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Stevens, Courtney C.
4 Reviews
(4)
YA
A year after a bomb killed nineteen people on Bus 21 in NYC, the four survivors travel back to New York for an artist's commemoration of the tragedy. Each teen deals--often powerfully--with anger and guilt about that fateful day, but choppy pacing and many plot threads prevent maximum impact of this hopeful tribute to reclaiming life after tragedy.
Reviewer: Rebecca Kirshenbaum
(3)
YA
In Otters Holt, Kentucky, preacher's daughter Billie and her group of friends ("the Hexagon") grew up inseparable. Lately, Billie has developed romantic feelings toward two members (one boy and one girl), and deepening awareness of her own sexuality colors her feelings about the future. Stevens offers meaningful and sensitive portrayals of her novel's many characters, all of whom have their own worthwhile stories.
Reviewer: Norah Piehl
(4)
YA
After a fatal car accident splinters her tight-knit group of friends, seventeen-year-old Sadie Kingston struggles with physical scars and emotional and social damage. Sadie's recovery comes from taking on challenges and solving mysteries that are more metaphorical than significant, leaving this realistic novel feeling saccharine and thin. Sadie, however, is an earnest, appealing heroine, and her romances and friendships are warm and affecting.
Reviewer: Jessica Tackett MacDonald
(4)
YA
Alexi, youngest daughter of the perfect Littrell family, is hiding a secret behind a good-girl façade. With the support of an exceptionally sensitive boy with pain of his own, Alexi finds the strength to admit her trauma, even if it might damage her reputation. Alexi's interior turmoil exposes the gray spaces between sexual assault and consent in this uneven but affirming debut novel.
Reviewer: Jessica Tackett MacDonald
4 reviews
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