She Loves You, She Loves You Not...

April 18, 2011
When 17-year-old Alyssa's homophobic father kicks her out, she goes to live with the mother she barely knows, a stripper who her father suspects to be a "high-class hooker." But Alyssa has her own secrets, including what exactly happened with her ex-girlfriend the night "it all came crashing down." Peters (Rage: A Love Story) interweaves flashbacks about Alyssa's relationship with Sarah with her new life in Colorado, where she waitresses at a greasy diner, develops a new crush, and learns about past traumas her mother has packed away. There is an excess of plot points to track, and some characters feel scriptedâsuch as Alyssa's gruff, wheelchair-bound bossâbut readers will appreciate Alyssa's honesty as she slowly reveals the details of her desperate break-up with Sarah, after which Alyssa's behavior veered into stalking ("I have no control over myself; not then, not now. Even though I knew it was over, I just needed to hear the words from her own lips"). Readers will also respect Peters's choice to give Alyssa new hope without tying up all the loose ends in her life. Ages 15âup.

May 1, 2011

Kicked out of her father's house for being a lesbian, Alyssa adjusts to small-town life with the mother she barely knows.

Carly, who had Alyssa when she was a teenager, works as a stripper and lives, to Alyssa's suspicion and surprise, in a $4 million house. Carly's profession disturbs and angers Alyssa for reasons that are never fully explored, and Alyssa is initially hostile toward Carly and irritated when nearly everyone she encounters in their small town of Majestic, Colo., recognizes her as "Carly's girl." Alyssa takes a job at a local diner, working for gruff but kindly Arlo, one of relatively few characters in teen fiction to use a wheelchair, and alongside Finn, who instantly pings her gaydar and piques her interest. Flashbacks, some written in second person, describe Alyssa's relationship with Sarah, her last girlfriend, and the complex and frustrating dance of hiding the relationship from Alyssa's father and stepmother. The issue of stalking receives subtle treatment; Alyssa is afraid she cannot be trusted with a phone, and flashbacks show her texting and calling to excess. The adult characters, particularly Carly and Arlo, are unusual and well-drawn, and the intimacies and betrayals of the relationship with Sarah ring painfully true.

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

June 1, 2011

Gr 9 Up-When Alyssa's father discovers her in a compromising position with her girlfriend, the 17-year-old finds herself banished to the fabulous Colorado home of Carly, the mother she barely knows. Though Alyssa is disgusted with her father for being judgmental and homophobic, she makes some of the same morality judgments about her mother's exotic dancing and her other job as a supposed masseuse/personal trainer with clients who call at all hours. Asserting her independence, the teen lands a summer job at the Egg Drop Inn, where everyone seems to recognize her as "Carly's girl." Slowly she begins to build an extended family with the owner, Arlo; with the customers; and especially with an attractive young waitress, Finn, all the while struggling to work out her relationships with her parents. Told mainly in a first-person narrative, with somewhat intrusive second-person flashbacks explaining the past year, this soap-opera tale juggles themes of first love, coming out, friendship betrayal, homophobia, abandonment, grief, and forgiveness. While it's difficult to juggle so many balls without dropping a few, She Loves You is still an entertaining read.-Betty S. Evans, Missouri State University, Springfield

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2011
Grades 9-12 Hurt, anger, betrayal, and love drive this passionate story told by Alyssa, 17, whose father throws her out of their Virginia Beach home when he finds out that she is a lesbian. After moving to Colorado to live with the mother she doesnt remember, who works as a stripper and maybe a call girl, Alyssa gets a job in a local diner. Even as she continues to grieve over the betrayal of her girlfriend back in Virginia Beach, who kissed another friend, she falls in love with a fellow waitress, who denies she is lesbian. Peters tries to weave in too many plot strands and characters, but the contemporary story blends details from teens worlds with fast-moving action that moves between Alyssas past and present. Many teens will relate to the details of hectic waitressing work with demanding customers, and the story of friends, family, and lovers will pull readers into the deeper themes of trust, rejection, and intimate secrets revealed.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)