What You Left Behind
Books | Young Adult Fiction / Social Themes / Pregnancy
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Jessica Verdi
Jessica Verdi, the author of My Life After Now and The Summer I Wasn't Me, returns with a heartbreaking and poignant novel of grief and guilt that reads like Nicholas Sparks for teens.It's all Ryden's fault. If he hadn't gotten Meg pregnant, she would have never stopped her chemo treatments and would still be alive. Instead he's failing fatherhood one dirty diaper at a time. And it's not like he's had time to grieve while struggling to care for their infant daughter, start his senior year, and earn the soccer scholarship he needs to go to college.The one person who makes Ryden feel like his old self is Joni. She's fun and energetic—and doesn't know he has a baby. But the more time they spend together, the harder it becomes to keep his two worlds separate. Finding one of Meg's journals only stirs up old emotions. Ryden's convinced Meg left other notebooks for him to find, some message to help his new life make sense. But how is he going to have a future if he can't let go of the past?"Ryden's story is a moving illustration of how sometimes you have to let go of the life you planned to embrace the life you've been given. A strong, character-driven story that teen readers will love."—Carrie Arcos, National Book Award Finalist for Out of Reach
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Author
Jessica Verdi
Pages
368
Publisher
Sourcebooks, Inc.
Published Date
2015-08-04
ISBN
1492608750 9781492608752
Ratings
Google: 5
Community ReviewsSee all
"This book is definitely a good read for those who like romance and relatable fiction. #young_adult_fiction #romance #highschool"
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Hannah Hood
"What They Say....Two years after a terrifying spate of teenage suicides, the remote village of Radcote has just begun to heal. Then a young man is killed in a freak motorcycle accident and a suicide note is found among his belongings. When a second boy is found dead shortly thereafter, the nightmare of repeat suicides once again threatens the community.<br/><br/> Desperate for a vacation, Detective Inspector Lorraine Fisher has just come to Radcote for a stay with her sister, Jo, but the atmosphere of the country house is unusually tense. Freddie, Jo's son, seems troubled and uncommunicative, and Jo is struggling to reach out to him. Meanwhile, Lorraine becomes determined to discover the truth behind these deaths. Are they suicides, or is there something more sinister at work? Finding answers might help Freddie, but they'll also lead to a shocking truth: whatever it is--or whoever it is--that's killing these young people is far more disturbing than she ever could have imagined, and unraveling the secret is just as dangerous as the secret itself. <br/><br/> <br/><br/>What I Say....This book started out with a true bang, in the form of a motorcycle vs. tree that leaves an unknown woman fleeing, and a young man dead. After the police categorize the accident as a suicide, the community becomes unrested, believing that they will be facing another spat of young male suicides.<br/><br/>Detective Fisher has come to visit her sister and becomes increasingly involved in the lives of the people of this community and in the investigation.<br/><br/>I don't know if it was because I read this right after reading a easy breezy fun book, but I felt like the writing was pretty dry, and hard to stay interested in.<br/><br/>The ending did deliver, but it was a little hard to get there, but I will look for her other book, "Until You're Mine", which got rave reviews on Goodreads.<br/><br/> <br/><br/>"
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Marcee Feddersen