Once again tackling difficult subject matter through elegantly crafted free verse, Hopkins (Traffick) tells the story of 17-year-old Ariel; her father, Mark; and Maya, also 17, who jumps into a relationship with an older man to escape her mother. Mark is an alcoholic drifter, prone to angry and violent outbursts. He has finally settled down long enough for Ariel to finish an entire school year in Sonora, Calif., where Ariel has allowed herself to develop real friendships and even consider the possibility of finding love. Hopkins uses spare yet poignant language to convey Ariel's simultaneous joy and fear as she begins to explore her sexuality ("the need to embrace/ this part of myself/ is escalating") while dealing with an abusive, homophobic, and controlling parent. Maya, whose chapters are written in first-person prose, intersects with Mark and Ariel's lives in an unexpected way, deepening the story's exploration of identity. Hopkins creates a satisfying and moving story, and her carefully structured poems ensure that each word and phrase is savored. Ages 14-up. Agent: Laura Rennert, Andrea Brown Literary. (Jan.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Gr 9 Up-Ariel and her father, an abusive, homophobic alcoholic, never stay in one place very long. Miraculously, though, they have spent Ariel's entire junior year in Sonora, CA, and she hopes that, for once, they can stick around. Here, she has finally experienced a bit of stability and made friends. She has also begun to explore her sexuality with both new guy Gabe and Monica, her "queer Mexican American" best friend. Ariel keeps her feelings for Monica from her father, who never lets her forget that her mother left them when Ariel was two to "run off with her lesbian lover." The teen longs to break free from her father's control and be herself-whoever that is. Seventeen-year-old Maya, a Texan whose cold and abusive mother is increasingly involved in Scientology, seeks escape, too, and she finds it when she meets Jason, 10 years her senior; gets pregnant; and marries. But Jason has an escape plan of his own, one that will bring Ariel's and Maya's stories together in a startling way. Themes of identity, family, and truth are interrogated as readers slowly learn more about Ariel and Maya. Writing in verse (Ariel's tale) and prose (Maya's), Hopkins uses skillful pacing and carefully chosen words to conceal the most important truth of the novel. The reveal arrives just as readers may be putting the pieces together themselves. VERDICT A sharp, gripping read sure to please Hopkins's legions of fans.-Amanda MacGregor, formerly at Great River Regional Library, Saint Cloud, MN © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

An arresting jacket montage and a six-hundred-page heft will grab the attention of Hopkins' sizable fan base, who won't come away disappointed. Two narrators offer alternate versions of the same story: 17-year-old Ariel tells hers in Hopkins' signature free-verse poems, while Ariel's mother, Maya, shares the journals she wrote to the daughter who was stolen from her at age 3. Ariel has been told her mother left the family for another woman, and she has grown up with her alternately overprotective and negligent father, moving frequently. Now in her senior year, she's been able to savor the luxury of putting down roots in Sonora, where she's fallen in love with lesbian Monica, while exploring an attraction to handsome Gabe. When Ariel and Gabe receive media attention for coming to the aid of an injured teen, Maya, now a newscaster, discovers her daughter is alive and seeks her out. With trademark compassion, multidimensional characters, realistic teen behavior, and a slew of issues sympathetically explored, Hopkins has another winner here. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Hopkins creates a well-established, well-defined product, one that the significant marketing campaign knows how to effectively promote.--Carton, Debbie Copyright 2016 Booklist