Saving Zoe, Alyson Noel

Noel, Alyson (2007).
Saving Zoe
New York: St. Martin’s Griffin9
780312355104
Genre: Realistic fiction

High school provides grief and isolation to Echo whose older sister Zoë died a year earlier, but insights gained from Zoë’s diary-a fifteenth birthday gift from Zoë’s boyfriend- about her sister’s life and death change Echo in ways she never expected.
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Fifteen-year-old Echo, is a typical teen trying to survive high school without being totally traumatized by boy trouble, friend drama, and school issues. As if she didn't have enough on her plate, Echo is also still dealing with the murder of her sister Zoë. Although it's been over a year, Echo is still reeling from tragedy that changed everything. Beautiful and full of life, Zoë was the glue that held her family together, and although the two sisters were as different as night and day, they still had a bond that Echo can't let go of. When Zoë's old boyfriend Marc shows up one day with Zoë's diary, Echo doesn't think there's anything in there she doesn't already know. But as she gives in to curiosity and starts reading, she learns that her sister led a secret life that no one could have guessed--not even Echo.
The author has created two very strong character in sisters Zoe and Echo. We meet Zoe through her diary entries, and the reader can totally understand Zoe’s desire to shake off the dust of her little hometown and become famous. Although she has done little to achieve this goal and has no plan in place to achieve this goal, it doesn’t make this dream seem any less real to Zoe or the reader. Unfortunately like many girls her age, she seems to think that just showing up in Hollywood will be enough to guarantee her stardom which makes her tragic end so painfully real. Echo who is the total opposite of her sister (academic straight arrow) who always and a strong sense of herself and never envied Zoe,, reveals her own turmoil as she tries to deal with her sister’s death and the macabre light it sheds on her. As Echo reads Zoe’s diary, she starts trying to be Zoe in the hope that this will ease some of the pain. Will Echo lose her own identity as she tries to become her sister?

No More Us for You, David Hernandez

Hernandez, David (2009).
No More Us For You
New York: HarperTeen
978-0061173332
Genre: Realistic Fiction

Isabel and Carlos, both seventeen, find themselves growing closer after an unexpected accident forces them to confront both the harshness and the beauty of life.
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Carlos works as a security guard at the Long Beach Museum; he has just found out that his girlfriend, whom his parents adore, is cheating on him. Isabel, whose boyfriend died a year ago in a car accident, walks through life in a cloudy haze as she contemplates hers and everyone else’s mortality. The two narrate the novel in alternating chapters; the narrations converge when they meet through mutual friend, Vanessa-the new girl at school-who also works at the museum and tries to set the two up on a date. Hernandez includes the bizarre, mundane, and tragic of a teens’ life: Carlos’ best friend gets his girl pregnant, his other close friend, Snake, is at risk of suspension and Carlos is saving his money up for clothes, etc. while Isabel tries to decide if her butt is too big and whether she is ready to go partying on the weekends. The two double date with Vanessa and Snake to the school dance. While Carlos and Isabel decide to go into the dance, Snake and Vanessa claim that they will be in shortly so they can finish up their drinks. When Carlos and Isabel return to the parking lot, they realize the car is gone. The next day, amid all the high sschool gossip, Carlos and Isabel learn that Vanessa and Snake have been in a tragic car accident; Vanessa is dead and Snake is in a coma.

Hernandez presents a realistic portrayal of two teens attempting to deal with their grief and still longing for a mutual connection. Both suffer guilt and despair and readers will be drawn into their hearts. Hernandez uses the museum as a vehicle to bring hope and love back into the teens’ hearts and lives together.

Secrets of My Suburban Life, Lauren Baratz-Logstead

Baratz-Logstead, Lauren (2008).
Secrets of My Suburban Life
New York: Simon Pulse.
9781416925255
Genre: Realistic Fiction

When Ren discovers that her biggest enemy at her new school, Farrin, has been conversing with an older man on-line and they are planning to meet, she knows that she cannot let Farrin go through with it.
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Harry Potter killed Ren’s mom. Not Harry Potter himself, but thousands of the books, explains Ren, a popular Manhattan teen. After her mother’s death, Ren’s father decides the two of them should relocate to Connecticut. Ren’s new school is culture shock for Ren; she desperately tries to fit in with all of the wealthy kids, but Farrin, the “it girl” thwarts Ren’s every attempt. As Ren blunders her way through each day of high school, she writes letters to her deceased mother in an effort to sort out her feelings. When Ren and Farrin accidentally switch pink fur-trimmed binders, Ren learns that Farrin has an ad on an internet dating site, and Farrin has been emailing an older man. Ren takes on Farrin’s online identity and suspects that Farrin has been emailing her father! Ren decides to save the young girl from disaster and confront her father; she plans to meet the man at a seedy hotel. The climactic scene (no pun intended) demonstrates that Ren has made a few friends who actually like her for who she is and that Ren should have never doubted her father’s morals. Now her English teacher is a different story…. Ultimately Ren is able to conclude her letters to her mother and look forward to school and her new life. Baratz-Longstead captures the drama and confusion of high school rather well; Ren is a kind hearted, well-intentioned girl who really doesn’t understand that Farrin is simply jealous and threatened by her. I kept thinking it was Gossip Girl Lite; SLJ too referenced Gossip Girl- only Secrets of My Suburban Life will most likely be more accessible to the younger at heart.