Meet Me Here

March 1, 2016
On graduation night, the road less traveled leads to a new understanding between friends and family. Thomas' life is pretty well mapped out for him. It's graduation night, and he's expected to report to the recruitment officer the next morning to follow his father's and brother's footsteps into the Army. But Thomas has other plans. He's seen what being a soldier did to his brother, Jake, who can't function even as the town greets him as a hero. Thomas doesn't want to end up that way. He's willing to run away from everything familiar to avoid the same fate. But then his old friend Mallory needs his help figuring out how she really feels about her boyfriend, and graduation night takes on a whole new meaning as Thomas and Mallory reconnect, remember, reveal, and discover that the paths they'd chosen might not be the right ones after all. Bliss offers a well-crafted story about the people who come home from war damaged and the family members this affects. Slipping deftly between past and present time frames, Bliss creates a three-dimensional landscape of broken characters without losing a presiding sense of hope, grounding his story in a rural, white North Carolina community where trucks are king. A love story between brothers, the novel provides a touching glimpse of a different kind of courage. (Fiction. 14-18)

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April 1, 2016

Gr 9 Up-Thomas is set to leave for the Army from his hometown of Hickory, NC, the day after his high school graduation, as his family expects. His father was in Desert Storm, and his brother Jake recently returned from overseas, injured and a hero after saving two other soldiers. When his seven-years estranged friend Mallory punches her boyfriend at a post-graduation party and asks Thomas for a ride home, they visit an old hotel and attend a party, among other adventures. All the while, they must keep track of wandering Jake and avoid Mallory's boyfriend. Throughout the novel, Thomas thinks about how he is tired of telling people he is excited about the Army, and worries that he will end up like his veteran brother, who always carries a mysterious backpack and appears aimless. Mallory is supposed to marry her boyfriend the day after graduation but has reservations. Bliss's novel addresses the push teens may feel after high school to do what is expected of them and not what they want, as well as stereotypes of masculinity and femininity, and the stigma surrounding post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Teens may find the small-town setting or the feeling of expectation familiar. With a 24-hour intense time frame and thoughtful discussion of PTSD, this title has elements of Cath Crowley's Graffiti Moon and Trish Doller's Something Like Normal. VERDICT With its positive depictions of mental health and message of following your passion, this work is a general purchase for teen collections.-Liz Anderson, DC Public Library

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from April 1, 2016
Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* It's the night of Thomas' high-school graduation, and he is agonizing over what's happening the next day. He has enlisted in the army, just like his dad and brother, and he is set to go to training first thing in the morning. But his brother, Jake, came back from the war deeply broken, and Thomas is afraid of ending up like hima man fading away to almost nothing. Over the course of the night, he reunites with his childhood friend Mallory, who is also afraid of the future she is facing; wanders from adventure to adventure; tries to save his brother from self-destructive choices; and finds himself questioning his plan to skip showing up at the recruitment center and run away. Though one peripatetic night might not sound like a compelling plot, Bliss keeps the pages turning with vivid, rich characters and weighty moments of self-discovery. With compassionate grace, Bliss plumbs the depths not only of Thomas' heavy choices but also the impact of war on a personal level and the singular sense of community that comes from living in a small blue-collar town. Though the relationship between Mallory and Thomas might perhaps be the most alluring at the outset, it's the connection between Thomas and his brother that is ultimately the most satisfying and meaningful. Thoughtful, empathetic, and deeply stirring.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)