Release Date: June 22nd, 2010
Genre: Teen Pregnancy
Publisher: Harper Collins
Pages: 265
Rating:
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Summary: 

Tell me a secret, and I'll tell you one…

In the five years since her bad-girl sister Xanda’s death, Miranda Mathison has wondered about the secret her sister took to the grave, and what really happened the night she died. Now, just as Miranda is on the cusp of her dreams—a best friend to unlock her sister’s world, a ticket to art school, and a boyfriend to fly her away from it all—Miranda has a secret all her own.

Then two lines on a pregnancy test confirm her worst fears. Stripped of her former life, Miranda must make a choice with tremendous consequences and finally face her sister’s demons and her own.

Review: This book was hard for me to relate to, but I knew it would be before I even started. It's so unlike the books I usually read.

Because of the way I was raised and where I grew up, I never knew a person in high school who had ever had a drink of alcohol, had sex, etc. Oh, sure, I knew of those people. But I didn't know them.

Because of that I found it very hard to be sympathetic towards Miranda, and that really made me struggle through the first half of the book.

And then I had a realization: I didn't have to sympathize with her.

She was in no way perfect. She made a lot of mistakes throughout the book. She wasn't always the most rational creature. But she wanted to be good. And because of that, I could respect her. So many people around her had these deep, emotional problems, including her! And it was fascinating to see how each different person dealt with those problems. Some pretended they weren't there, some resented them, and some flaunted them.

I read this book in one sitting, and by the end my eyes were stinging (both from emotion, and because I had been reading for 4 hours straight). Even though I wasn't able to relate to this book or the characters, I have something that goes beyond relation: respect.

What a beautiful insight into the difficult aspects of the human existence.