What's Broken Between Us

September 21, 2015
In a story about sorrow, regret, and love, Bass (Love and Other Theories) traces high-school senior Amanda’s struggles during the aftermath of tragedy. On the night Amanda’s older brother, Jonathan, graduated from high school, he was responsible for a drunk-driving accident that left a friend dead and his girlfriend, Sutton, nearly paralyzed. While Jonathan spent a year in jail, Amanda brooded that she should have done more to prevent him from getting behind the wheel. After Jonathan is released, community members complain that his sentence was too light, and Amanda feels guiltier than ever. Told from Amanda’s point of view, this novel offers a frank, thought-provoking account of one teen’s response to an unbearable, irrevocable situation. The relationship between Amanda and Sutton’s brother (whom she has been avoiding) unexpectedly deepens into romance, making her emotions all the more complicated. Meanwhile, Jonathan’s reconnection with Sutton may be more detrimental than therapeutic. Rather than placing judgments, Bass focuses on her characters’ emotional scars and strained relationships as they quietly grieve lost life and innocence. Ages 14–up. Agent: Suzie Townsend, New Leaf Literary & Media.

October 1, 2015
On the night of their high school graduation, Jonathan Tart drank, drove, and killed a female classmate, shaking an otherwise "boring, run-of-the-mill" suburb to its core. In a clever twist on a topic that has often been visited in teen fiction, Bass tells this story from the perspective of Jonathan's younger sister, Amanda. Innocent yet guilty by association, Amanda has spent the past year and a half of Jonathan's prison sentence struggling to reconcile her love for her brother with the self-imposed burden of being the repentant face of a seemingly remorseless killer's family. What little progress she's made will be put to the ultimate test now that Jonathan is coming home. Unfortunately, while the premise is intriguing, the story never quite lives up to its potential, largely because there is so little to redeem Jonathan's destructive and repugnant behavior. Aside from blood ties, it is nearly impossible to comprehend Amanda's devotion to him. As a result, the story's most promising plotline]Amanda's struggle to claim a life and identity of her own]cannot sustain the weight of her older brother's dark shadow until it is far too little and late. The novel may be told by his sister, but make no mistake, this is Jonathan Tart's tale. A great idea that gets lost along the way. (Fiction. 14-18)

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November 1, 2015

Gr 8 Up-Amanda and Henry have danced around their feelings for each other the entire time their siblings, Jonathan (Amanda's brother) and Sutton (Henry's sister), have been dating. They finally decide to act upon them the night of Jonathan and Sutton's graduation, not knowing tragedy is about to strike. While the two of them leave a party for privacy, Jonathan, Sutton, and their best friend Grace head to another party. Jonathan, drunk, crashes the car, killing Grace and nearly paralyzing Sutton. A year later, he is being released from prison and Amanda, now a senior, is not sure how she feels about everything. Her feelings for Henry still exist, but she's spent the last year keeping all of them pent up. Henry, trying to help Sutton, wants Amanda's help keeping his sister and Jonathan apart. Amanda is more worried about her brother staying out of prison. Amanda and Henry have to decide if they are ready to heal and focus on each other. The narrative is told from Amanda's point of view, starting before Jonathan's release from prison and flashing back to the events that changed everyone's lives. Jonathan, Grace, and Henry are fully fleshed out, and even the secondary characters are distinct. References to drinking, sex, Alcoholics Anonymous, and drug testing are included throughout the story. This well-done realistic novel presents an honest look at the aftermath of bad decisions. VERDICT Hand this to fans of Lurlene McDaniel and Simone Elkeles; purchase where realistic YA fiction is in demand.-Natalie Struecker, Atlantic Public Library, IA

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2016
Amanda's older brother Jonathan drove drunk, killed a girl, and nearly paralyzed his now-ex-girlfriend Sutton. Amanda has had to deal with the consequences, and now with Jonathan out of prison, she sees the mess he's become as he tries to cope with what he did. An intense, complex look at blame, guilt, regret, and how those feelings affect relationships both old and new.

(Copyright 2016 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)