Author: Dina Havranek
Genre: realistic fiction
Similar books: Wild Swans by Jessica Spotswood
Life Unaware by Cole Gibsen
Rating:
.JPG)
Summary (provided by publisher): Giddy Barber knows with certainty she’s going to become a mechanical engineer. What she doesn't know is the last time she smiled.
With her parents overworked and unavailable, it falls to Giddy to make sure her siblings stay on track. But she’s exhausted. When you’re the person everyone else turns to, what do you do when you hit a wall?
Giddy finds an answer online—if you can’t handle how things are going, shake them up. Is it sound advice? Unclear. But is Giddy willing to try anything? Absolutely. Putting eleven days on the clock, she’ll change her routine. But soon it becomes clear that some problems are bigger than what an online column can fix—her family is fracturing, her anxiety is mounting, and all she knows is this: Something. Has. To. Give.
My opinion: We're hearing increasing reports of teens who are stretched to the limit and struggling with stress and depression. So Giddy's situation is timely. We see a character who is not only tightly wound and over scheduled, she's desperately unhappy and has no idea what would make her happy. The advice she follows sets me a bit on edge. Not only does she pick it up from what sounds like a pretty questionable source, her method of following it is deeply flawed. So her decisions can be pretty cringe-inducing. And the tension builds steadily throughout the book. The titular explosion feels increasingly inevitable. The resolution is ultimately satisfying and addresses some of her poor decision-making. Certainly, I wouldn't recommend that any reader follow Giddy's method of fixing their life but it's a solid illustration of how desperately wrong and over-burdened teen's life can turn.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley
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