School Library Journal Review

Gr 7 Up-Everyone at Healy High and the surrounding town have heard the rumors about Alice Franklin. Not only did Alice sleep with two guys in the same night, she also caused one of those guys, Brandon Fitzsimmons, to die in a car accident. As Alice is shunned by even her closest friends and reports of an abortion surface, only Kurt, an outcast himself, reaches out to Alice in friendship. In alternating chapters told by high school students Elaine, Kelsie, Josh, and Kurt, listeners learn the true and not-so-true details of the events that have forever changed Alice's life. While rumors and slut-shaming are central to the plot, themes of friendship and sexuality are also explored. Mathieu does not shy away from depicting the lives and hidden motives of the characters in all their gritty, complicated detail. Narrators Ali Ahn, Michael Bakkensen, Graham Halstead and Elizabeth Morton convincingly portray the Healy High students, and Saskia Maarleveld finishes the story with a look into Alice's point of view. VERDICT Fans of character-driven, realistic fiction will want to try this audiobook.-Amanda Spino, Ocean County Library, NJ © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.