Thursday, November 17, 2016

SPEED OF LIFE, by Carol Weston

The story: Sofia's mother died last year, and now her dad is dating again. She's got all these hard questions and no one to ask--so she turns to Dear Kate, the advice columnist at "Fifteen" magazine. When Kate gives her good answers and solid advice, Sofia emails more and more--until she finds out that the advice columnist is the Mystery Woman her dad is dating! Now what!?!?

June Cleaver's ratings: Language PG; Violence G; Sexual content PG-13; Nudity G; Substance abuse PG-13; Magic & the occult G; GLBT content PG; adult themes (death of a parent, sex, grief and loss) PG-13; overall rating PG-13.

Liz's comments: Weston's background as a teen advice columnist is evident here--parts of this book read like she lifted them straight from the source. Sofia asks questions that MS girls certainly wonder about, but would frequently be too embarrassed to ask their mothers, so there's some value to the book in that way. I thought it was fairly plot-free, but it certainly raised and resolved a lot of issues--death of a parent, the other parent dating again, grief, moving, going to a new school, step-sibling drama, wondering why you can't get a boyfriend (and when you do, wondering how far to go)--there's a little of everything! Girls who are willing to put up with the slow pace and wade through teen angst to see whether Sofia gets the guy will be happy with the outcome.

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