All We Left Behind

October 1, 2015
Two high school students from seemingly different worlds find that their intense chemistry is not the only thing that draws them together in this debut novel. Though Marion and Kurt are both emotionally withdrawn, they manifest it in different ways: she studiously avoids boys and eschews physical contact, while he engages in frequent meaningless hookups. However when Marion's wild, boundary-pushing friend Lilith throws them together at a party, they can barely keep their hands off each other while they go for a swim in the lake. This touches off a connection between the two that feels at once magnetic and dangerous. The respective agonizing secrets harbored by Marion and Kurt are revealed to readers before the characters share them with each other and establish them both as authentically sympathetic alternating first-person narrators. The dreamy, dialogue-driven text flows easily, and though some may grow impatient with the elusive on-again, off-again nature of their relationship, the pair's sexual tension can't be denied, and its eventual resolution is steamy and honest in its vulnerability. An ongoing metaphor set up early on about drowning serves the narrative well as both Marion and Kurt are pulled under by their emotions and the demons of their pasts. Older teens will be deeply moved by this romantic drama and its pairing of sensuality and grief. (Fiction. 14-18)

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November 1, 2015

Gr 10 Up-Marion Taylor and Kurt Medford couldn't be more different. Marion is introverted and studious, while Kurt is the playboy captain of the soccer team. Neither of them would ever have noticed the other until their paths cross unexpectedly at a party. During this brief tryst, the energy and connection between them is palpable but they both know it cannot last. Yet in the days and weeks following their meeting, they find themselves inexplicably drawn to one another. Both Marion and Kurt harbor dark secrets that keep them from becoming close to anyone. Marion cannot stand to be touched and fears intimacy, while Kurt buries his pain through physical means. Before long they cannot deny their feelings, and they begin a passionate and at times confusing relationship. Soon the layers of their secrets begin to peel away, forcing them to face the demons they have both fled from. This novel is both haunting and poetic in its depiction of young love and human trauma. The chapters alternate between Marion's and Kurt's points of view, giving readers a chance to experience both sides of the story. Their experiences are woven together to create an emotional and at times raw story of pain, love, and acceptance. Sundberg does not shy away from darker topics such as sexual abuse, addiction, and abandonment. Through all the trauma, however, readers will find hope in the growth and love that both Marion and Kurt find in each other. VERDICT A poetic and tumultuous tale of love and loss that will appeal to fans of both realistic fiction and romance.-Annalise Ammer, Henrietta Public Library, NY

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 15, 2015
Grades 9-12 Two teens who seem totally wrong for each other find that they are actually quite right in this heartfelt and gritty debut told through alternating first-person points of view. Kurt and Marion, both 17, don't have much in common. Kurt is popular, outgoing, and has a reputation with the girls as a player. Marion is a bit of a wallflower and is unable to tell anyone about something that happened to her years before. Both cope with their dysfunctional families in different ways: Kurt's sister is a meth addict, and he uses sex to fill the void he feels over his alcoholic mother's death, while Marion is disconnected from even those closest to her. Throughout, lyrical water images evoke Kurt and Marion's rocky relationship: Everything between Kurt and me has been oceanfast & vulnerable and full of drowning currents. The language used is sometimes raw, and the characters masturbate and have sex, but this isn't explicitly described. The depiction of drug use is a bit graphic and disturbing, lending authenticity to an honest, frank, and appealing romance.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)