Want to Go Private?
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5.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
Abby and Luke chat online. They've never met. But they are going to. Soon.Abby is starting high school--it should be exciting, so why doesn't she care? Everyone tells her to "make an effort," but why can't she just be herself? Abby quickly feels like she's losing a grip on her once-happy life. The only thing she cares about anymore is talking to Luke, a guy she met online, who understands. It feels dangerous and yet good to chat with Luke--he is her secret, and she's his. Then Luke asks her to meet him, and she does. But Luke isn't who he says he is. When Abby goes missing, everyone is left to put together the pieces. If they don't, they'll never see Abby again.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Littman (Life, After) pens a harrowing cautionary tale about the dangers that lurk online. Fourteen-year-old Abby feels insecure and unhappy as she starts high school, failing to fit in and drifting apart from her best friend Faith. Abby finds an outlet in ChezTeen.com ("kind of like Second Life, but for teens"), where she meets Luke, a sympathetic listener who flatters her. She becomes entirely dependent on him, letting her grades slip, withdrawing from the real world, and rationalizing away red flags that arise: he is twice her age, he tells her he loves her almost immediately, and he asks for (and receives) sexual favors. She decides to meet him. Structured in three parts with alternating narrators (before, during, and after Abby's disappearance) to create suspense, this message-driven story guarantees invested readers. While the novel's trajectory is predictable and no reader will think for a second that Luke aka BlueSkyBoi is a good guy, Abby's actions are entirely believable. To a degree, the novel relies on readers' feeling smarter than Abby, yet Littman demonstrates how easy it is to fall under the sway of a charming predator. Ages 14-up.
