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reynastillo's review
1.0
I had to wait a bit to calm down before writing this review, as I was so furious at the end of reading this that I knew whatever I wrote would be an incoherent tangent. Despite being over three months since I’ve finished this, however, I still feel an irrational rage just thinking about this book. So forgive me in advance for ranting.
This story just did not work for me. While it tries to be something revolutionary by talking about teen pregnancy, it does it in the worst way possible. First, let me express my disbelief at the utopia the main character (sorry, I don't remember her name because she's just that forgettable) lives in. You would think a realistic fiction book about teen pregnancy would be somewhat realistic, right? Wrong. Everything goes perfectly for the main character. Her parents support her throughout, both of them, and more unbelievable is that her boyfriend stays with her. They are bonded by their “undying love," which seemed way too far-fetched to me.
They could have made the story about surviving high school and raising a baby through the pressure, but instead the author chose to fabricate drama to replace actual substance. The main plot is basically: “What should we do with the baby?” and “Should I tell my best friend that I'm pregnant or not?” It’s so contrived and just plain boring to read through.
Also, I just re-read the description for this book and realized I forgot the side plot about the main character being adopted. You know why? Because it adds nothing to the story. Oh wait, it does add something—more fake drama the author loves. The girl’s biological mother goes through all of the trouble to contact her and then...nothing happens. The main character doesn’t even meet her. The biological mother is just in there so the main character feels bad and has a justification for her choice at the end of the story. Her reasoning is that she doesn’t want to end up like her mother, who was also a teen mom. That could have been explained in two sentences instead of dedicating entire chapters on a character no one cares about. It's supposed to add an element of mystery to the story, which was part of what drew me to the book, but the execution falls flat on its face. It seems like the author went, "So, we have teen pregnancy, now what other controversial topic can we stuff in here? Adoption? Perfect."
The writing overall is dull and downright atrocious at times. This description in particular extremely annoyed me: “María smoothed her hands over her black Peter-Pan collared dress—with the pink framed glasses, she was the perfect Mexican-American Wednesday Addams-Barbie hybrid.”
This is word for word from the book and it doesn’t get much better from there.
Another thing I hated was the main character. She was so entitled; she seemed surprised she actually got pregnant even though she knew there was a risk. The main character fully consented to having sex, and did it multiple times--she can't blame anyone but herself for her predicament. There is always risk involved, and she knew that beforehand. She says in the book that she was often warned about the possibility of pregnancy; she just didn't think it'd ever happen to her. But surprise surprise, it did.
Characters are supposed to have an arc where they learn and grow from the events of the book, but this character did just the opposite. She was pushing away everyone who loved her and offered her support--her best friend, family, and boyfriend. She went from being the "perfect girl" to feeling entitled to doing/saying anything she felt like with the excuse that "she was pregnant." She was, to put it simply, a jerk. I understand that she was going through mood swings and stress, but generally you’re supposed to feel sympathy towards the main character and I felt none whatsoever. I just couldn’t feel bad for her situation because of her attitude towards it. She was incredibly rude throughout, and that never changed for a second.
What really got to me, though, was the ending. The main character got an abortion. Now, the topic of abortion is a sensitive one and I won’t delve into my opinion here. Everything, however, was poised for her to keep the baby. Plot-wise, it would have been more interesting to see how she coped with it. And it makes sense as her family is supportive of her (they were the ones who let her have sex with her boyfriend and got her the birth control) as well as her boyfriend. Her family and boyfriend could have helped her take care of the baby.
Besides that, the reasoning for the abortion wasn’t very compelling. The main character wanted her and her boyfriend to go to college and 'follow their dreams'. Never once was there something like, “her family is too poor to afford a child” or “she’d be disowned if she kept it”. No, she just wanted an easy, regular high school life for her and her boyfriend. If she had really wanted that, though, she wouldn't have had sex in the first place. She fully knew what she was getting into, yet still decided to risk it.
She then acts as if the abortion was solving a problem in her life and was just another thing off her to-do list, not feeling much of anything afterwards. Even if she felt it was the right thing to do, it was still her baby and she should’ve felt some emotion towards it. She and her boyfriend had even discussed naming it. Besides, the main character was already around 5 weeks pregnant. The whole buildup, just to end with an abortion, seemed anticlimactic and illogical to me. If the book was supposed to be a realistic portrayal of teen pregnancy, why were all the loose ends tied up so nicely? The baby was no longer a problem, almost no one had found out, her parents still loved her and her boyfriend stayed with her. (One might argue that abortion does not qualify as a happy ending, but the main character had no moral issues with it, so for her, it was a good ending.)
This book failed on so many levels. I know there are people out there who have become pregnant, quietly get an abortion, and go on with their lives as normal. But those stories aren't interesting, so it confounds me that the author choose to write about that when there are so many other avenues she could have taken to integrate the same topic. The main character learned absolutely nothing from her pregnancy; it did not change her in any way. The author hoped to add a new perspective on the controversial issue of teen pregnancy and abortion, but simply writing "she had an abortion" for shock value does not replace the substance this book desperately needs.
Okay, I can’t think about this book anymore. If you want a slow paced story with a bunch of irrelevant drama and no payoff, this book is for you. But if not (and I sincerely hope you don't), please, please, don't waste your time with this book.
This story just did not work for me. While it tries to be something revolutionary by talking about teen pregnancy, it does it in the worst way possible. First, let me express my disbelief at the utopia the main character (sorry, I don't remember her name because she's just that forgettable) lives in. You would think a realistic fiction book about teen pregnancy would be somewhat realistic, right? Wrong. Everything goes perfectly for the main character. Her parents support her throughout, both of them, and more unbelievable is that her boyfriend stays with her. They are bonded by their “undying love," which seemed way too far-fetched to me.
They could have made the story about surviving high school and raising a baby through the pressure, but instead the author chose to fabricate drama to replace actual substance. The main plot is basically: “What should we do with the baby?” and “Should I tell my best friend that I'm pregnant or not?” It’s so contrived and just plain boring to read through.
Also, I just re-read the description for this book and realized I forgot the side plot about the main character being adopted. You know why? Because it adds nothing to the story. Oh wait, it does add something—more fake drama the author loves. The girl’s biological mother goes through all of the trouble to contact her and then...nothing happens. The main character doesn’t even meet her. The biological mother is just in there so the main character feels bad and has a justification for her choice at the end of the story. Her reasoning is that she doesn’t want to end up like her mother, who was also a teen mom. That could have been explained in two sentences instead of dedicating entire chapters on a character no one cares about. It's supposed to add an element of mystery to the story, which was part of what drew me to the book, but the execution falls flat on its face. It seems like the author went, "So, we have teen pregnancy, now what other controversial topic can we stuff in here? Adoption? Perfect."
The writing overall is dull and downright atrocious at times. This description in particular extremely annoyed me: “María smoothed her hands over her black Peter-Pan collared dress—with the pink framed glasses, she was the perfect Mexican-American Wednesday Addams-Barbie hybrid.”
This is word for word from the book and it doesn’t get much better from there.
Another thing I hated was the main character. She was so entitled; she seemed surprised she actually got pregnant even though she knew there was a risk. The main character fully consented to having sex, and did it multiple times--she can't blame anyone but herself for her predicament. There is always risk involved, and she knew that beforehand. She says in the book that she was often warned about the possibility of pregnancy; she just didn't think it'd ever happen to her. But surprise surprise, it did.
Characters are supposed to have an arc where they learn and grow from the events of the book, but this character did just the opposite. She was pushing away everyone who loved her and offered her support--her best friend, family, and boyfriend. She went from being the "perfect girl" to feeling entitled to doing/saying anything she felt like with the excuse that "she was pregnant." She was, to put it simply, a jerk. I understand that she was going through mood swings and stress, but generally you’re supposed to feel sympathy towards the main character and I felt none whatsoever. I just couldn’t feel bad for her situation because of her attitude towards it. She was incredibly rude throughout, and that never changed for a second.
What really got to me, though, was the ending. The main character got an abortion. Now, the topic of abortion is a sensitive one and I won’t delve into my opinion here. Everything, however, was poised for her to keep the baby. Plot-wise, it would have been more interesting to see how she coped with it. And it makes sense as her family is supportive of her (they were the ones who let her have sex with her boyfriend and got her the birth control) as well as her boyfriend. Her family and boyfriend could have helped her take care of the baby.
Besides that, the reasoning for the abortion wasn’t very compelling. The main character wanted her and her boyfriend to go to college and 'follow their dreams'. Never once was there something like, “her family is too poor to afford a child” or “she’d be disowned if she kept it”. No, she just wanted an easy, regular high school life for her and her boyfriend. If she had really wanted that, though, she wouldn't have had sex in the first place. She fully knew what she was getting into, yet still decided to risk it.
She then acts as if the abortion was solving a problem in her life and was just another thing off her to-do list, not feeling much of anything afterwards. Even if she felt it was the right thing to do, it was still her baby and she should’ve felt some emotion towards it. She and her boyfriend had even discussed naming it. Besides, the main character was already around 5 weeks pregnant. The whole buildup, just to end with an abortion, seemed anticlimactic and illogical to me. If the book was supposed to be a realistic portrayal of teen pregnancy, why were all the loose ends tied up so nicely? The baby was no longer a problem, almost no one had found out, her parents still loved her and her boyfriend stayed with her. (One might argue that abortion does not qualify as a happy ending, but the main character had no moral issues with it, so for her, it was a good ending.)
This book failed on so many levels. I know there are people out there who have become pregnant, quietly get an abortion, and go on with their lives as normal. But those stories aren't interesting, so it confounds me that the author choose to write about that when there are so many other avenues she could have taken to integrate the same topic. The main character learned absolutely nothing from her pregnancy; it did not change her in any way. The author hoped to add a new perspective on the controversial issue of teen pregnancy and abortion, but simply writing "she had an abortion" for shock value does not replace the substance this book desperately needs.
Okay, I can’t think about this book anymore. If you want a slow paced story with a bunch of irrelevant drama and no payoff, this book is for you. But if not (and I sincerely hope you don't), please, please, don't waste your time with this book.
thepurplepages's review
2.0
This book was... okay. Not something I really would’ve chosen, but I was going on a road trip and frantically checked out two or three books from the online library. This just happened to be one I selected randomly. It was a good book, but a little too high-school feeling for me. Drama, messy emotions, unfinished conversations. I would’ve enjoyed this book more a few years ago, I think.
mk_pagano's review
5.0
This is a beautifully written, upbeat contemporary that deals with tough subject matter (unwanted pregnancies, abortion, parental relationships, friendship ups and downs) with an amazing amount of grace. Such heavy themes could come off as too much to handle, but the way Rebecca writes about Audrey and her family and friends and boyfriend is anything but overwhelming. Audrey is a super-relatable character which makes being in her head an absolute pleasure. Her group of friends are real and honest and wonderful and flawed. Her relationship with her boyfriend Julian is pitch-perfect without becoming cloying. And I love the way she relates to her mom and pseudo step-dad. If you're in the mood for something that will make you smile and cry at the same time, pick this up!
aelong1399's review
4.0
Audrey is the picture of how someone grows up when they’re given unconditional love and support in all their relationships. She is a model for healthy teen sexuality, friendships (even when fighting!) and romantic relationships. I hope millions of girls read this and find her to be a role model for them.
menshevixen's review
5.0
You Don't Know Me But I Know You is a gorgeous example of a slice-of-life contemporary that takes time and care with its characters, allowing them room to grow, both by themselves and with one another. From the lovely, occasionally painful realism of the girls' friendships (Rose! MY ROSE) to Audrey's journey with her mother (and her birth mother), this debut is full of quiet moments that together form a poignant portrait. The options available to teen mothers are presented thoughtfully, with no more weight given to one than the others, and no judgment reserved for any. I particularly enjoyed watching Julian and Audrey together; their relationship isn't placed on a pedestal, avoids being romanticized (despite being deeply romantic), and contains what feels like a plot twist to this reader, too familiar with stories depicting a girl becoming pregnant and a boy reacting in less than ideal ways.
You Don't Know Me But I Know You is a wonderful read for contemporary fans, readers who love art and music, and anyone looking for an introspective novel on the many faces of family.
Low-key fave: Adam with that pork dumpling action!
You Don't Know Me But I Know You is a wonderful read for contemporary fans, readers who love art and music, and anyone looking for an introspective novel on the many faces of family.
Low-key fave: Adam with that pork dumpling action!
punkystarshine's review
slow-paced
4.0
Okay here's the thing: I'm giving this 4 stars because I think it's a good, important book. I'm really happy there are teen girls out there who will be able to read this, I think it is covering teen topics in a way a lot of media shies away from. But I didn't really enjoy it. Though, I recognize that this is a me problem, hence the 4 stars. The first Rebecca Barrow book I read was And Don't Look Back, so I was hoping for another mystery/dark/thriller-type book. This was, instead, teen drama about a straight girl. Specifically, a story about a teen girl who gets pregnant. Not my particular jam. Two of Audrey's friends are queer, so that was nice. But ultimately I found Audrey to be inconsistent in her treatment of her best friend, and overall it was just not the action-packed drama I had come to this book hoping for after And Don't Look Back. (Which again, is a me problem. I was not the target audience for this book.) It also took me a little while to realize this, so I kept expecting the boyfriend to get murdered or the new girl to reveal herself to be evil haha oops. But everyone was perfectly lovely and all the problems were solved with little to no conflict. Which is...fine. And probably nice for some people. Just again, not my speed.
shanlyz's review
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Because she had been feeling sick all weekend, maybe even before that. And she was dead tired all of a sudden.
Lining up all those facts like that made Audrey feel stupid, like someone had given her a checklist of clichés and she'd run through them all, ticking every box.
But they were clichés for a reason.
Ir's probably nothing, she told herself.
No need to panic.
Right. Tell that to the alarm bells screaming, shrill and insistent, in the back of her mind.
"You're going to think this is ridiculous," she interrupted. You’re going to think I'm ridiculous, but- I think I might be, maybe, a little…pregnant?"
I am pregnant.
But it's okay, she reasoned. Because things are going to be okay.
Julian said so. Julian's never wrong. He never lies.
She pressed her face into the pillows so her world-weary, soul-deep moaning couldn't be heard. Fuck. Fucking fuck shit fuck.
Okay. She had to calm down. She had to relax. And most of all, she had to forget about that tiny thrill, of nerves and disbelief and something almost like excitement, that she'd felt in the split second between seeing the results and Julian squeezing her hand.
Easy.
You don't know me but I know you. I’ll love you forever-that's the first thing I have to say-but we can't stay together. I'll miss you when you're not with me anymore.
Audrey came back from her regularly scheduled throw up…😂😅
There are so many questions I want to ask you. The reason I placed you for adoption was so that we could both have a chance at a good life, and now I have that good life, but I feel as if I can't rest easy until I know you do, too. Your mom is a wonderful person, so I feel confident in thinking that she will have tried her best to give you a wonderful world, and that's good.
But still, when I'm lying awake at night, I want to know whether you like cats or dogs. Do you play an instrument?
I'm selfish, I know. I have no right to want to know all these things about you, and yet I do.
Mosty I want to know if you are happy, and I know that happines is an oddly unquantifiable thing, but if any part of your answer could be yes, then I would be so happy.
I'm going to give this letter so the adoption agency, and maybe they’ll give this letter to you.
All my love to you and Laura-I hope the two of you are good together as you were the day you were born, Audrey.
Audrey hadn't ever doubted that her adoption had been the best for everyone involved, but to know for certain that it was true?
Well, duh of course she knew why, but she wished she hadn't.This this was what she'd been searching for. The good thing she'd needed to remind her that things got better even when it didn't seem like they ever could. Look at Amanda Darby and the place she'd been in seventeen years ago, and then look at the beauriful life she had now.
Look at the life Audrey herself had: family, friends, the best boy in the world. And sure, right now everything was fucked up and confusing and so, so hard, but still, she wouldn't change it for anything.
There had been a girl exactly like her all chose years ago who'd made a hard decision for a good reason, and now look where they all were.
She'd thought that if Amanda Darby regretted it at all, it would make her decision harder, and change the way she thought about her whole life. She’d thought that if Amanda Darby didn't regret it at all, it would push her closer to the adoption choice, even though she knew it wasn't right for her. But, no. Reading those words written by the woman who'd gifted her with this life, what Audrey really saw was the power available to her right now. That power to choose the beginning of the rest of her life.
So that only left one thing.
The idea of an abortion-it had been playing in the back of her head ever since she'd found out she was pregnant. Think about all the options, And oh, she wanted to live her life. And it was scary, but knowing that she had thought it through, that all the deliberating and worrying and everything else could be over soon-it filled Audrey with calm.
She was making her choice, her own right choice.
“Nobody knows what they're doing when the have a baby, not really. I would wager that nobody really knows what they're doing in anything. Every parent every day is questioning then decisions. Your birth mother. She trusted me wich you, because she thought I could do a better job than her that you'd have a life she wanted for you. But here you are, seventeen, having to decide to get an abortion. I don't think that's what she wanted for you and so I feel guilty about that too. You make decisions that you think-that you hope-are the best thing for you in that moment, and that's all you can do. I made the decision to adopt. Your birth mother decided on me. You decided on art. And now you're deciding on this."
"What if I have this abortion and then in ten years, fifteen years- what if I can't have kids then? Or what if I do this and I regret it or I change my mind?”
Her mom's face shifted then: she looked stern and the kind of imposing Audrey would never associate with her mom. "Listen to me," she said, grabbing for Audrey's hands. "Really think about this. Because it's your life, and you're in control. Do you think that's what's going to happen? That you're going to be…punished if you choose this way?"
"I don't know," Audrey said softly. "That's the problem."
"Or are you scared?" her mom asked. "Because fear can be a strange thing. It can do strange things to your mind. You have to see through that and remind yourself of your own truth. Getting you was the best thing that ever happened to me, and maybe it seems strange to say that what you’re going through right now might be the best thing to happen to you, but it really might. You have your whole life ahead of you. You have no idea what good things are going to happen.”
Are you scared?
Yes, Audrey thought. Yes, I am scared. But I hope that I'm doing the right thing. No. I am doing the right ching. This baby isn't my baby, the baby. My baby is years away, when I’m older and wiser and hopefully happy. So I can make that baby happy.
I know that. I know.
If Amanda Darby could be happy, then so could Audrey. And more than that, she should be happy. Amanda had given Andrey the opportunity to do that, to have a mom who loved her so much even when Audrey didn't deserve it, who would make the world move to give Audrey everything she ever needed.
And maybe Audrey would grow up to be an artist, or maybe not.
She could be a teacher or a mother or a person who tried to make the world a little brighter. She could do all those things because of what her mom did for her, what Amanda did for her, what she did for herself.Her life could go in ten thousand different directions, and all of them were right.
So tomorrow, and in two weeks, and in a couple of years, she'd be that happy. That was a promise to herself that she'd do everything to keep.
Lining up all those facts like that made Audrey feel stupid, like someone had given her a checklist of clichés and she'd run through them all, ticking every box.
But they were clichés for a reason.
Ir's probably nothing, she told herself.
No need to panic.
Right. Tell that to the alarm bells screaming, shrill and insistent, in the back of her mind.
"You're going to think this is ridiculous," she interrupted. You’re going to think I'm ridiculous, but- I think I might be, maybe, a little…pregnant?"
I am pregnant.
But it's okay, she reasoned. Because things are going to be okay.
Julian said so. Julian's never wrong. He never lies.
She pressed her face into the pillows so her world-weary, soul-deep moaning couldn't be heard. Fuck. Fucking fuck shit fuck.
Okay. She had to calm down. She had to relax. And most of all, she had to forget about that tiny thrill, of nerves and disbelief and something almost like excitement, that she'd felt in the split second between seeing the results and Julian squeezing her hand.
Easy.
You don't know me but I know you. I’ll love you forever-that's the first thing I have to say-but we can't stay together. I'll miss you when you're not with me anymore.
Audrey came back from her regularly scheduled throw up…😂😅
There are so many questions I want to ask you. The reason I placed you for adoption was so that we could both have a chance at a good life, and now I have that good life, but I feel as if I can't rest easy until I know you do, too. Your mom is a wonderful person, so I feel confident in thinking that she will have tried her best to give you a wonderful world, and that's good.
But still, when I'm lying awake at night, I want to know whether you like cats or dogs. Do you play an instrument?
I'm selfish, I know. I have no right to want to know all these things about you, and yet I do.
Mosty I want to know if you are happy, and I know that happines is an oddly unquantifiable thing, but if any part of your answer could be yes, then I would be so happy.
I'm going to give this letter so the adoption agency, and maybe they’ll give this letter to you.
All my love to you and Laura-I hope the two of you are good together as you were the day you were born, Audrey.
Audrey hadn't ever doubted that her adoption had been the best for everyone involved, but to know for certain that it was true?
Well, duh of course she knew why, but she wished she hadn't.This this was what she'd been searching for. The good thing she'd needed to remind her that things got better even when it didn't seem like they ever could. Look at Amanda Darby and the place she'd been in seventeen years ago, and then look at the beauriful life she had now.
Look at the life Audrey herself had: family, friends, the best boy in the world. And sure, right now everything was fucked up and confusing and so, so hard, but still, she wouldn't change it for anything.
There had been a girl exactly like her all chose years ago who'd made a hard decision for a good reason, and now look where they all were.
She'd thought that if Amanda Darby regretted it at all, it would make her decision harder, and change the way she thought about her whole life. She’d thought that if Amanda Darby didn't regret it at all, it would push her closer to the adoption choice, even though she knew it wasn't right for her. But, no. Reading those words written by the woman who'd gifted her with this life, what Audrey really saw was the power available to her right now. That power to choose the beginning of the rest of her life.
So that only left one thing.
The idea of an abortion-it had been playing in the back of her head ever since she'd found out she was pregnant. Think about all the options, And oh, she wanted to live her life. And it was scary, but knowing that she had thought it through, that all the deliberating and worrying and everything else could be over soon-it filled Audrey with calm.
She was making her choice, her own right choice.
“Nobody knows what they're doing when the have a baby, not really. I would wager that nobody really knows what they're doing in anything. Every parent every day is questioning then decisions. Your birth mother. She trusted me wich you, because she thought I could do a better job than her that you'd have a life she wanted for you. But here you are, seventeen, having to decide to get an abortion. I don't think that's what she wanted for you and so I feel guilty about that too. You make decisions that you think-that you hope-are the best thing for you in that moment, and that's all you can do. I made the decision to adopt. Your birth mother decided on me. You decided on art. And now you're deciding on this."
"What if I have this abortion and then in ten years, fifteen years- what if I can't have kids then? Or what if I do this and I regret it or I change my mind?”
Her mom's face shifted then: she looked stern and the kind of imposing Audrey would never associate with her mom. "Listen to me," she said, grabbing for Audrey's hands. "Really think about this. Because it's your life, and you're in control. Do you think that's what's going to happen? That you're going to be…punished if you choose this way?"
"I don't know," Audrey said softly. "That's the problem."
"Or are you scared?" her mom asked. "Because fear can be a strange thing. It can do strange things to your mind. You have to see through that and remind yourself of your own truth. Getting you was the best thing that ever happened to me, and maybe it seems strange to say that what you’re going through right now might be the best thing to happen to you, but it really might. You have your whole life ahead of you. You have no idea what good things are going to happen.”
Are you scared?
Yes, Audrey thought. Yes, I am scared. But I hope that I'm doing the right thing. No. I am doing the right ching. This baby isn't my baby, the baby. My baby is years away, when I’m older and wiser and hopefully happy. So I can make that baby happy.
I know that. I know.
If Amanda Darby could be happy, then so could Audrey. And more than that, she should be happy. Amanda had given Andrey the opportunity to do that, to have a mom who loved her so much even when Audrey didn't deserve it, who would make the world move to give Audrey everything she ever needed.
And maybe Audrey would grow up to be an artist, or maybe not.
She could be a teacher or a mother or a person who tried to make the world a little brighter. She could do all those things because of what her mom did for her, what Amanda did for her, what she did for herself.Her life could go in ten thousand different directions, and all of them were right.
So tomorrow, and in two weeks, and in a couple of years, she'd be that happy. That was a promise to herself that she'd do everything to keep.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Pregnancy and Abortion
abscarlet's review
2.0
This book was... okay. Not something I really would’ve chosen, but I was going on a road trip and frantically checked out two or three books from the online library. This just happened to be one I selected randomly. It was a good book, but a little too high-school feeling for me. Drama, messy emotions, unfinished conversations. I would’ve enjoyed this book more a few years ago, I think.
lexiww's review
4.0
It’s unfair to call this simply a book about teen pregnancy. Yes, 17-year-old Audrey finds herself unexpectedly pregnant by her longtime beloved, Julian. And appropriately, the bulk of this nuanced novel follows her as she wrestles with choosing what to do next. Adopted as a baby herself, Audrey ruminates on that option: How might the life of her child differ from her own upbringing? Should she follow the path of her birth mother, who she has only ever read a single letter from? If she keeps the baby, can she offer all she gratefully experienced growing up? She also wonders about abortion: How might it shape the person she is trying to become—and who is that, anyway? Through starkly genuine conversations with her boyfriend, her mother, and her best friend, Audrey is encouraged in earnest to make her choice with integrity. In this debut novel, Barrow has crafted soulful, complex characters who will resonate with readers who’ve had to contemplate the weight of their decisions upon their futures and themselves.— Lexi Walters Wright, First published June 1, 2017 (Booklist)
abbygdickerson's review
3.0
I really liked this book but not at the beginning. I saw the potential in the book and kept reading. After Audrey found out she was pregnant, not a lot happened for a while except worsening friendships and indecisiveness. In the end I was glad I kept reading because I really enjoyed the ending.