A Not-So-Simple Life
Maya: Book 1
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- £5.99
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- £5.99
Publisher Description
Fifteen-year-old Maya Stark seems to have it all–fame, fortune, a Beverly Hills lifestyle, and an eighties pop star dad who’s making a comeback. But looks can be deceiving, and on the inside, Maya is miserable. Her parents are divorced, her dad is away on tour, and being biracial, she struggles with her identity. Then, to make matters worse, her mother has returned to using drugs and is quickly depleting their finances. In a plan to become emancipated from her messed-up mom, Maya takes a job on Rodeo Drive. Selling designer clothes compromises Maya’s earth-friendly “green girl” values, but she is desperate.
Just when Maya thinks she’s got it all worked out, her life caves in. Her mom “embezzles” Maya’s savings and is later arrested on DUI and cocaine possession charges and is facing jail time. With nowhere to live, Maya is sent to spend the summer with her relatives. In the collision of two very different worlds, Maya must figure out where she fits in–or does she fit in at all?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Carlson's bestselling Diary of a Teenage Girl series gets a new star in Maya, who is the cousin of previous Carlson heroine Kim Peterson. Like the other dozen-plus books in the series, this one features teens with serious family problems in Maya's case, a drug-addicted and abusive mom and a dad who's rich and famous but has no time for her. The grounded Maya, with her environmental idealism and her resourceful maturity, is a plucky heroine. Carlson exposes the seamy underside of glamorous Hollywood, including the music and modeling worlds, so it's no surprise that Maya doesn't miss the fast lane when she goes to live a small-town life at her cousin's. There she is exposed to Christianity and begins to explore faith. Fans of the series will welcome this new character even as they enjoy the crossover appearances of characters they've come to love.
