She Loves You, She Loves You Not...
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- £3.99
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- £3.99
Publisher Description
A novel about coming out, finding love, and discovering your place in the world from National Book Award finalist Julie Anne Peters.
Seventeen-year-old Alyssa thought she knew who she was. She had her family and her best friends and, most important, she had Sarah. Sarah, her girlfriend, with whom she dreamed with about the day they could move far away and live out and proud and accepted for themselves, instead of having to hide their relationship.
Alyssa never thought she would have to make that move by herself, but disowned by her father and cut off from everyone she loves, she is forced to move hundreds of miles away to live with Carly, the biological mother she barely knows, in a town where everyone immediately dismisses her as "Carly's girl." As Alyssa struggles to forget her past and come to terms with her future, will she be able to build a new life for herself and believe in love again? Or will she be forced to relive the mistakes that have cost her everything and everyone she cared about?
Told in Peters's thoughtful, compelling prose, Alyssa's story will speak to anyone who has known the joy and pain of first love and the struggle to start over again.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
When 17-year-old Alyssa's homophobic father kicks her out, she goes to live with the mother she barely knows, a stripper who her father suspects to be a "high-class hooker." But Alyssa has her own secrets, including what exactly happened with her ex-girlfriend the night "it all came crashing down." Peters (Rage: A Love Story) interweaves flashbacks about Alyssa's relationship with Sarah with her new life in Colorado, where she waitresses at a greasy diner, develops a new crush, and learns about past traumas her mother has packed away. There is an excess of plot points to track, and some characters feel scripted such as Alyssa's gruff, wheelchair-bound boss but readers will appreciate Alyssa's honesty as she slowly reveals the details of her desperate break-up with Sarah, after which Alyssa's behavior veered into stalking ("I have no control over myself; not then, not now. Even though I knew it was over, I just needed to hear the words from her own lips"). Readers will also respect Peters's choice to give Alyssa new hope without tying up all the loose ends in her life. Ages 15 up.
