Now Is Everything

August 15, 2017
Airplane-crash survivor Hadley's motivations for attempting suicide are explored in chapters that alternate between flashbacks of her life and her current stay in a psychiatric facility.Hadley's pre-accident life seemed charmed--she's the rich, white, academically successful senior captain of her high school lacrosse team. She's also incredibly lucky to have survived the private plane crash that killed both her parents (her father was pilot). Even luckier, her adored 10-year-old sister, Lila, missed the flight. And yet, within hours of the crash, Hadley attempts suicide. This raises red flags for the crash investigator, who begins interviewing her friends to understand what might have happened during the flight. Through his interviews, Hadley's pre-accident flashbacks, and her counseling sessions, a very different picture of her life emerges. Her father, who initially seems like an overactive helicopter parent, actually uses violence at home to control his daughters and his wife, who refuses to intervene. Motivated by a desire to protect Lila from their father's attentions, Hadley has largely complied with his demands. That changes when she begins a forbidden romance destined to be discovered by her father. His clever punishment is to shift his controlling, violent attention toward Lila, prompting Hadley to consider extreme measures. Her palpable despair and desperation, conveyed in well-paced first-person chapters, increase the tension as the truth of the accident slowly emerges. A tragic exploration of why people sometimes protect their abusers. (Fiction. 14-18)

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September 18, 2017
Behind the nearly perfect grades and family fortune, 17-year-old Hadley McCauley is hiding a terrible secret. Her father, Miles, demands total respect and complete obedience, and he wakes Hadley up every morning for intense runs and weight-lifting sessions to ensure that she remains in peak condition for lacrosse. Beyond his controlling tendencies, Miles also physically abuses his family. Hadley does everything she can to guide her father’s attention away from her younger sister while keeping the violence a secret, but things take a turn for the worse when she falls for classmate Charlie Simmons and breaks her father’s no-dating rule. Debut novelist Giles movingly explores child abuse and its many insidious forms; she recounts Hadley’s story in chapters that alternate between past and present, giving readers a broad understanding of abuse while weaving in Hadley’s first romantic relationship. It’s a thoughtful and poignant story with a strong narrative arc and well-crafted, realistic characters. A list of resources is included for readers who need help or know others who do. Ages 14–up. Agent: Alexandra Machinist, ICM.

November 1, 2017

Gr 9 Up-From the outside, 17-year-old Hadley's life seems perfect. She's the disciplined captain of the lacrosse team, in the running for salutatorian, and applying to the same Ivy League university that her dad attended. What nobody knows is that between her dad's brutal and uncompromising expectations and her mom's neglect, Hadley is barely keeping it together. The only good thing about her family is her vivacious little sister, Lila, whom Hadley will do anything to protect. Enter Charlie, Hadley's longtime crush. Without meaning to, the protagonist falls deeply in love, but leaning on her secret new boyfriend means leaning away from the sister who so desperately needs her protection from the violence of their family. Months later, Hadley is in the psychiatric ward of the hospital, the sole survivor of a plane crash that has destroyed her family. While she is tormented by the past and unsure how to live with her mistakes, a police investigation is circling ever closer to the truth. Hadley's increasingly complex story unfolds in alternating "then" and "now" chapters, creating a compelling mystery, which will hook curious, as well as reluctant, readers. Main and minor characters alike are fully fleshed and authentic, each with their own flaws. Unusual for angsty YA, the caring adults in Hadley's life sense there is something amiss and repeatedly reach out to offer her support. VERDICT A must-have for collections where thrillers and realistic fiction are popular.-Leighanne Law, Scriber Lake High School, WA

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from September 15, 2017
Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* From the surface, Hadley McCauley's life seems pretty perfect. She comes from wealth, is highly successful in school, and is captain of the lacrosse team. Yet Hadley only has one motivation for everything she does: protecting her younger sister, Lila, from their abusive father. A romantic relationship the father has forbidden shifts his sights from Hadley to Lila. The violence at home slowly escalates, ending in a tragic accident that changes everything, an accident that causes Hadley to attempt suicide at the hospital afterward. Her friends, family, and the investigator on her case just want to know whybut Hadley's lips are sealed. Told in alternating chapters between then and now, Giles' debut is impeccably paced with deep, well-rounded characters that propel the reader through the narrative. Giles sensitively tackles the complex inner workings of an abusive family, crafting a story that is relatable and emotionally investing. Giles effortlessly shifts between time lines, expertly withholding information and increasing the tension until the end. Once readers pick up Hadley's story, they will have difficulty putting it down, desperately rooting for her to win. An admirably crafted debut that will haunt readers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)