Annabelle Agnelli runs from Seattle to Washington, D.C., in an attempt to outrun a traumatizing incident that occurred less than a year earlier.Eighteen-year-old Seattleite Annabelle is hardworking, pretty, and seemingly has it all: good grades, great friends, and a loving family. Following a tragedy, however, Annabelle is wracked with guilt over a crime she did not commit but feels responsible for, and as a result, she suffers from severe anxiety and PTSD. The only thing she feels she can do now is run. Joined by her Italian immigrant grandfather, Grandpa Ed, in his RV and cheered on by a self-appointed publicity team comprising her 13-year-old brother, Malcolm, and her friends Zach (indicated East Asian by his surname) and Olivia (presumed white), Annabelle runs across the nation in an attempt to come to terms with the event perpetrated by a person whom she dubs The Taker. Written in the present tense, Caletti's (What's Become of Her, 2017, etc.) narrative conveys a sense of urgency and immediacy as she presents issues familiar to many young women, including rape culture, violence, and the internalization of guilt and social critique.A timely novel with strong secondary characters that emphasizes the complexities of the heart and doing what is right. (Fiction. 14-adult) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Gr 9 Up-Seventeen-year-old Annabelle Agnelli needs to run away from tragedy. She starts in her hometown of Seattle with the intention to run 2,700 miles to Washington, D.C. As she crosses the vast and lonely terrain, she has flashbacks that gradually reveal what she is trying to flee. She runs to punish herself for the crime she thinks she has committed; she runs to feel the pain she thinks she deserves. Annabelle unwittingly becomes a spokesperson for a greater cause and a reluctant role model. Caletti tackles two big topics-gun violence and violence against women-with enormous skill. Annabelle's story never seems forced or heavy-handed; Caletti realistically mines the gray areas of the teen's conscience. Portrayals of complex, multifaceted secondary characters and vivid descriptions of the protagonist's surroundings permeate this story and make it come to life. Readers can almost smell the pine trees, see the glimmering lake water, and feel the steamy heat rising off of the pavement as Annabelle runs across the country. They can also feel her confusion and pain, which makes her hard-won self-redemption most rewarding. -VERDICT A moving novel centered on -timely issues that deserves a place in all libraries serving young adults.-Melissa Kazan, Horace Mann School, NY © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Nine months ago, the boy whom eighteen-year-old long-distance runner Annabelle calls The Taker irrevocably changed her life for the worse. Now she has embarked on a run from Seattle to Washington, DC, to try to manage the immense anxiety, guilt, and sorrow that have dogged her since. As she runs her daily sixteen miles, accompanied by curmudgeonly Grandpa Ed in his RV, she battles blisters, cramps, dehydration, and unwelcome memories of her relationship with The Taker. She agonizes over what she could have done differently, and blames herself for making excuses for his behavior. When she meets a kind young man along the way, she is understandably wary. But as she is cheered on by friends, family, and complete strangers, Annabelles broken heart slowly begins to mend. When readers finally discover what happened between Annabelle and The Taker (involving a gun and a death), its almost anticlimactic. The joy and power of this story is in taking the physical and mental journey with Annabelle as she relinquishes her feelings of self-blame and inspires others to act. Calettis lyrical third-person, present-tense narration blends immediate detail with gut-wrenching flashbacks to great effect. An important and legitimizing book for any girl who ever believed a boy was owed her attention and any boy who ever assumed it was his due. jennifer hubert swan (c) Copyright 2018. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

*Starred Review* A guy in a parking lot leers at her, and Annabelle Agnelli takes off running. Eleven miles later, she stops, only to realize that running is exactly what she needs to do. Not just an impromptu, panic-stricken bolt, but an outlandishly extreme run that will take her from Seattle to Washington, D.C. It might help with her PTSD, and it might help her come to terms with her body. It will surely give her time to mourn the terrible losses of the previous year, and atone for the role she was never meant to play. This remarkable book traces Annabelle's cross-country adventure while gradually peeling apart the events that led to the trauma she's running from. Annabelle was on the rebound from a disrupted relationship when she befriends a socially awkward boy, now known only as The Taker. Annabelle couldn't decide if he was weird or cute and tried not to encourage him, but looking back, she is tormented by her every smile and kindness. Through Annabelle, Caletti rips apart the contradictions of a society that commands women to be compliant and pleasing and then blames them for male responses to their attractiveness, however violent they might be. This timely, well-written novel is crucial reading in the days of #metoo.--Colson, Diane Copyright 2010 Booklist

It's been nine months since an unnamed act of violence left runner Annabelle "broken and guilty and scared." When an incident at a restaurant triggers bad memories for the high school senior, she takes off running, forming a plan to go 2,719 miles, from Seattle to Washington, D.C. In a powerful story of a survivor trying to regain a sense of justice and power, Caletti (Honey, Baby, Sweetheart) details a young woman's harrowing psychological and physical journey across the United States. Thanks to support-written with tender detail, her younger brother and friends create a GoFundMe website, her grandfather trails her in his well-equipped RV, and a growing fan base cheers her on-Annabelle's trek quickly evolves into a cause. What happened to Annabelle and why she feels compelled to run to the nation's capital remain undefined until the book's end, when a series of flashbacks playing in the heroine's mind reveal clues as she battles exhaustion, dehydration, and pain during her 16-mile-a-day run. Caletti expresses familiar themes about what it can be like to live as a woman in U.S. society, constantly guarding against threat ("What are you supposed to do when you're also required to be kind and helpful as well as vigilant?"). Annabelle's determination to make a difference in spite of her fears sends an inspiring and empowering message. Ages 14-up. Agent: Michael Bourret, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

There are books you devour and books you wish you'd somehow written, and this latest by Caletti ("Honey, Baby, Sweetheart") happens to be both. Annabelle Agnelli is an unlikely activist: She's not running the 2,700 miles from Seattle to Washington, D.C., because she wants to. She's doing it because it's the only thing she can do. She's running away from something terrible, something traumatizing that has changed her, as similar events have changed so many lives, forever. She knows she'll never get over it. But can she change the way she feels about what happened - ashamed and guilty, as if it were her fault? As she traverses mountains, cities, suburban towns and never-ending rural roads - beautifully depicted scenes that show the breadth of America - she's supported in her quest by family members like Grandpa Ed, who follows her in his trailer and cooks her eggplant parmigiana and grumpily feeds her soul. Her brother and her friends organize back at home, fund-raising and attracting media attention for her efforts and eventually her cause. Strangers start to take notice, and the goodness of society becomes palpable. As she runs, putting distance between herself and a person we know as "The Taker," Annabelle slowly allows herself to confront what happened, to consider the toxic masculinity that leaves girls and women feeling as if they have to be ashamed for something that was never their doing in the first place, and to consider the culture of violence and the easy access to guns that leaves so many people broken. And she starts to get angry about it. This is, quite simply, a book everyone should read right now.