Touches on serious issues for teens and adults

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This is the story of a group of teenagers – seniors in high school and starting college – each battling some demon in their life, who come together in support of another teen battling a brain tumor.

This is what my kid’s eighth grade teacher would have called an “edgy” book, but in this one is tempered with kindness and love. What makes this book edgy is that it touches on – more than touches –several serious themes that affect teenagers and adults. Here’s a list of some of those things, all quite heavy:

Cancer
Alcoholism
Parental micromanagement of their teen’s life
Ghost/evil spirits
Thrill chasing
Medicinal use of drugs
Cigarette smoking
Lack of parental supervision
Teen forced to step into parental mode for both their sibling and their parent
Angels
Psychic healing
LGBQT
Lying to parents
Sneaking out at night
Death

If someone had told me going into this book that all those topics were included in the storyline, I’d likely have chosen not have read the book. No one did, and I’m glad I read the book. As hard as it might be to believe, all those things are worked into the story and done in a way that they don’t jump out and taunt you. They’re made a normal part of being a teenager. Nothing is gratuitous, nothing is done to titillate. These are a group of kids who have problems, and we watch as they figure out how to deal with them. The book offers a positive message.

While the book involves all of these serious subjects, the story is actually much lighter than you would think. The primary theme of this book is friendship, family, and love. I especially liked how two separate groups of friends, each person thinking poorly of the others, merges in order to help those friends who need it the most.

I liked this book, especially the characters of Veronica and Sawyer, two of the most troubled kids in the book. I felt sorry for them, but also felt pride in how they dealt with the hands life had given them. There are too many kids facing the heavy burdens these kids face, and Veronica and Sawyer handled things better than many would. I also liked how it wove the history of tuberculosis sanatoriums and patients into the book.

This is a good read. I’d happily recommend it to someone I thought would be interested in it. I thought the author did an excellent job of weaving all the threads together.