Not About a Boy
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4.6 • 60 Ratings
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
"This debut is a gritty teen drama full of mature themes that unfurl in compassionate ways and will resonate with many readers...Heartbreaking and powerful." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Euphoria meets Girl in Pieces in this coming-of-age story of a girl trying to put a grief-stricken past behind her, only to be startled by the discovery of a long-lost sister who puts into question everything she thought she knew.
Amélie Cœur has never known what it truly means to be happy.
She thought she’d found happiness once, in a love that ended in tragedy and nearly sent her over the edge. Now, at seventeen, Mel is beginning to piece her life back together. Under the supervision of Laurelle Child Services, the exclusive foster care agency that raised her, Mel is sober and living with a new family among Manhattan’s elite. It’s her last chance at adoption before she ages out of the system, and she promised, this time, she’ll try.
But a casual relationship with a boy is turning into something she never intended for it to be, causing small cracks in her carefully constructed walls. Then the sister she has no memory of contacts Mel, unearthing complicated feelings about the past and what could have been.
As the anniversary of the worst day of her life approaches, Mel must weather the rising tides of grief and depression before she loses herself, and those close to her, all over again.
Praise for Not About a Boy:
"Lucid and luminous." —ALA Booklist
"Hollis’s powerful and compassionate debut novel is an intimate and nuanced portrayal of a resilient and troubled young woman’s journey toward self-acceptance...An emotionally rich and complex coming-of-age story. Amélie is a well-written character teenagers will understand and will want to root for." —School Library Journal (starred review)
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Black 17-year-old Amélie "Mel" Coeur has spent most of her life under the supervision of an exclusive foster care agency in Connecticut. Close to aging out of the system, she is sent to live with affluent white foster parents in Manhattan for a last chance at adoption. Never having known her father and orphaned from a very young age, Mel is also traumatized by the death of her boyfriend less than a year earlier. Despite the support of two close peers back in Connecticut, a new circle of friends at her elite progressive school, and a burgeoning relationship with handsome, wealthy Black classmate Hayden, she struggles to engage fully in her own life. The sudden appearance of a forgotten twin sister threatens Mel's tentative stability, throwing into question her memories about her early childhood. Debut author Hollis constructs a world populated by privileged teens participating in the use of drugs and alcohol. Though the large cast and their relationship dynamics can be difficult to follow, the slowly unfolding narrative presents a compelling look at Mel's past, her endeavors to manage her mental health, and her journey toward wholeness and belonging. Ages 13–up.
Customer Reviews
10/10 I Recommend
This book deserves an award! it really focused on the dynamic of what most teenage girls go through or may have experienced. I am a 25 yr old reading this book and I feel like i’m Amelie. I have the same feelings and circumstances in my mind that are constantly fighting with me. I cried most of the book! I can truly say I enjoyed this. Thank you Myah ❤️
10/10
My first read of the year and I loved everything about it, though the beginning was a bit of a slow burn to me personally, I felt every moment described as if it were my own.