Stolen Car

December 1, 2008
Gr 9 Up-Danielle, 15, wants to be loved-not the way the Dad-wannabes love her single mom, not the way her ever-reliable friend Evan loves her, but really loved, the way she deserves. So when her old crush Reid expresses an interest in her, she falls hard for the much older boy. To be with him, she routinely ditches and lies to Evan and BFF Ashley, who steadfastly stand by with admonitions and advice. When Danielle finally sees through Reid's lies and realizes that he has been unfaithful, she and Ashley steal his cherished car and hit the road. Danielle's relationships are mostly realistic, if overly dramatic, and the premise of getting swept up in a bad boy's charms is believable. However, the dialogue-driven narrative is sometimes clumsy, major characters often serve as doormats to be pushed aside, and references to teen culture are self-conscious and stuffy. Although the fact that Ashley's life is not as happy as she pretends is repeatedly hinted at, the details of her past are confessed too late to make any thematic use of them, despite their relevance to Danielle's situation. This book has the potential to be an engrossing story but gets dragged down by the weak characters and a ham-handed delivery."Brandy Danner, Wilmington Memorial Library, MA"

Copyright 2008 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 15, 2008
Grades 8-12 Danielle, who likes to call herself The Defender, is determined not to make the same relationship mistakes that her mother has. Then she meets Reid, who woos her in classic bad-boy fashion with sweet talk and sexy gifts (bought with suspect money), but he never acknowledges their romantic status to the rest of the world. He is a user and abuser, according to Danielles BFF, Ashley, and her long-time, always availableguy friend, Evan, is worried and disgusted. But Danielle, now The Denier rather than The Defender, is convinced she has found love. Then Reid fails the ultimate test, and Danielle finds the ultimate revenge. Once again, Jones astutely enters the world of female insecurity and the syndrome of girls who accept a man at any price. His characters, both male and female, are authentic, and their situations, with some melodramatic exceptions, are realistic. Readers will recognize their friends and even themselves in this affecting novel that closes withsituations that, despitetheir implausibility, will satisfy teens.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)