Since We Last Spoke

February 1, 2019
It took 17 years for Aggi and Max to fall in love but just one night to lose each other.Next-door neighbors in rural North Carolina, Aggi Frank and Maxwell Granger took years to admit that they were in love. Their romance felt like it could last forever--until Max's brother, Cal, died in a car accident while Aggi's sister, Kate, was driving. Kate's role in the accident drove her to commit suicide just 10 days after Cal passed away. The double tragedy tore the Frank and Granger families apart, culminating in a restraining order that prevented Aggi and Max from talking, let alone dating. For a year, Aggi and Max followed the rules and avoided each other until the night their best friends, Umé and Henry, plotted to bring the two together to mend their broken hearts. Rufener's (Where I Live, 2018) treatment of grief is nuanced and deeply felt, and Aggi's and Max's complex feelings about themselves, their families, and their aborted romance drive the skillfully crafted narrative. Unfortunately, Kate and Cal, whose deaths are the reason behind the book, are disappointingly two-dimensional, overly wise, almost magical older siblings rather than fully formed characters. Aggi, Max, and Henry are from working-class families, Umé is queer, and all main characters are white.A compelling story about grief told through the voices of two expertly drawn protagonists. (Romance. 14-18)

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Starred review from April 1, 2019

Gr 9 Up-Aggi Frank and Max Granger have grown up together, neighbors their whole lives. They finally declare their love for each other in the most dramatic truth or dare and then lose their siblings in the same night. Aggi's sister loses control of her car on the way home from a concert with Max's brother, who is killed instantly. Ten days after the crash, guilt ridden and alone in her anguish, Aggi's sister dies by suicide. The Franks and the Grangers struggle to come to terms with this horrific tragedy, leaving the two young lovers at odds. Once two inseparable families in a small town, now they are bitter enemies who blame each other for their losses. Can a restraining order keep Aggi and Max from finding a way to live and love again? Rufener ambitiously tackles many topics in a single novel: manslaughter, suicide, bullying, sex, drugs, mental health, family violence, parental neglect, and abuse. Rufener successfully weaves all of these difficult subjects into a real and relatable narrative without platitudes or apologies. This is a modern-day Romeo and Juliet story that stands on its own. VERDICT This book is a definite first purchase for high school libraries.-Christina Paolozzi, Bonaire Elementary School, GA

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