Just A Girl

Reviewed by: Brooke Faulkner - McArthur Public Library, Biddeford, Southern Maine Library District

Review Date: October 10, 2017

Review

Smart and incisive, constantly making anagrams out of cool words in her head, but a lousy student, high school senior Rianne is at loose ends about what to do after high school. Her family is unsupportive - her mom has stipulated that she must leave home immediately after she graduates and though her dad is newly back in their small Minnesota town, he's been mostly absent from her life for years. Rianne's reputation as an easy hook up follows her and though she has a group of friends who are frank about their own sexual experiences, Rianne knows that she's judged by them and often feels like an outsider. Then Luke, a popular guy she's casually seeing, makes it clear he'd like things to be much more serious between them just as Rianne meets a Russian student from the local university and to whom she is drawn. Complex and richly-drawn characters shine in this contemporary novel and the experience of the rural setting will ring true to many Maine teens.

Overall Book Score: very good