I am seeing a horrifying trend in YA romance: glorifying teen pregnancy.

Now, before I go on, I am not slamming teen moms (or dads). I am simply saying that books targeted at kids should NOT glamorize babies having babies (as Judge Judy would put it). I feel like these books give teens a very bad, incorrect view of what being a teen mom is like. So here are the facts:

1. 1. 3 in 10 teen American girls will get pregnant at least once before age 20. That’s nearly 750,000 teen pregnancies every year.
2. 2.Parenthood is the leading reason that teen girls drop out of school. More than 50% of teen mothers never graduate from high school. 
3. 3. About 25% of teen moms have a 2nd child within 24 months of their first baby.
4. 4.Less than 2% of teen moms earn a college degree by age 30.
5. 5.The United States has one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the western industrialized world.
6. 6. In 2011, the teen birthrate in the United States fell to the lowest level recorded in nearly 70 years of tracking teen childbearing.
7. 7.In 2008, the teen pregnancy rate among African-American and Hispanic teen girls, ages 15 to 19, was over two and a half times higher than the teen pregnancy rate among white teen girls of the same age group.
8. 8. 8 out of 10 teen dads don’t marry the mother of their child.
9. 9. A sexually active teen who doesn’t use contraceptives has a 90% chance of becoming pregnant within a year.
10. 10. More than half of all mothers on welfare had their first child as a teenager. In fact, two-thirds of families begun by a young, unmarried mother are poor.
    1.  

(from DoSomething.org)

Also teen moms are:

1. Are more likely to get pregnant more times during their life
2. Are more likely to be single parents
3. Are less likely to have good health coverage for their babies
4. Are less prepared for being a parent and may not know how to take care of their baby
5. Are less likely to get support from the biological father

(from TeenPregnancyStatistics.org)

So, fellow authors: Can you PLEASE stop making it look like a Disney movie? Books most notorious for this behavior are:

Taking Chances by Molly McAdams

Bumped by Megan McCafferty

Hooked by Catherine Greenman

Fifteen...& What?! by E. McNew

ERMERGERD STAHP!!!!

By Diane Chamberlain
ISBN 1250010713
(ISBN13: 9781250010711)
Publication Date: 10/7/14
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Pages: 352
My Rating: 5 Stars 

Diane Chamberlain’s upcoming THE SILENT SISTER is a riveting and suspense page-turner! As always, Chamberlain skillfully crafts a complex family drama mystery, with multi-generational rich characters— which does not disappoint.

A best-selling international author, (having read 22 of her books), you could say I’m a huge fan! After popular Necessary Lies, Diane returns with one sister’s shocking discovery (let’s make that plural), as there are many discoveries—one surprise, after another, keeping Riley the main character, second guessing everyone she thought, as family.

RILEY: Riley, (25 yrs. old), is currently living in Durham, NC as a school counselor and out of school for summer vacation. Her father died suddenly, a month earlier and now she is returning to her childhood home in the small town of New Bern, NC, as executrix. Her mom died of cancer shortly after Riley graduated from high school.

DANNY:Riley’s older brother Danny, has PTSD from the war in Iraq, lives in an RV Park in the forest in New Bern, disabled, and a time bomb ready to ignite at any moment –always angry. He is of no assistance, when sorting out the house and the affairs. He has a troubled past, a bad attitude, and a short fuse—with a loaded shotgun.

LISA: Lisa, a child prodigy and violinist, and the family favorite. This family’s world revolved around Lisa and her practice, concerts, and lessons. When Riley was only two years old, her older sister Lisa (17 yrs. old), committed suicide in the freezing Potomac River of Alexandria, Virginia—the body was never found. She left her five violins’ behind, and her most famous one- Violet.

After her death the family left Arlington, VA near DC, and moved to New Bern, NC to escape the rumors and start over. Since Lisa’s death, the family unit was destroyed with two grieving parents and a household full of secrets and lies. Danny dislikes Lisa, and felt she took the easy way out. He blames the parents as never discussed the grief or sent Danny to counselors. Riley was really too young to understand.

When Riley arrives in town, meets with the attorney to go over the will, she finds out her dad, has left them the family home, some insurance money, a RV park, and a house full of collections. Strangely, she discovers her dad was keeping a strange post office in another man’s name in Pollocksville, NC, plus he has an RV which contains bluegrass music, and all sorts of strange postcards, CDs and pictures with this unknown man’s name?

More surprises: At the reading of the will, she learns her dad left Thomas Kyle and his wife Verniece, longtime residents at her father’s RV Park, his expensive pipe collection. She visits them to give them the good news and finds these two are very strange. They really did not appreciate the offer, as they tell Riley her dad wanted them to have the entire RV Park ----worth like two hundred thousand! She also gets the feeling they are hiding something. She learns her dad has written a check for $500 a month to Tom at the RV for years?

In conversation, Verniece mentions they adopted their son, and her mom was instrumental in this effort, since Riley was adopted! What is she talking about? She is not adopted? Could this be true as there is a big difference in age between her and her older sister?

Wow, did her dad have a secret life? She also discovers her dad was with the US Marshalls Service, as well as Tom she knew nothing about. He also left in the will, ten thousand dollars and a grand piano to Jeannie Lyons, the real estate agent, and her mom’s oldest friend, from Asheville, NC---and Jeannie and her dad had been dating for years? She had no clue. Who are these people?

Since Barbara is a real estate agent and her daughter handles estate sales, they overwhelm her taking over her house and Riley wants them all to get out of her way. Riley discovers a box in her dad’s office with all sorts of articles and photos surrounding Lisa’s death---she gets another shocker.

Riley thought Lisa committed suicide due to being depressed, now she finds out her sister murdered her old violin instructor in cold blood in their family home and was about to go to trial and prison. (no wonder she committed suicide).

To further complicate matters, Tom and his wife, try to blackmail Riley with information about her sister’s death in order to get the RV Park. Lisa is not really dead! It was a set up to escape prison, as evidently she had help, since she was so young. Tom says there were two sets of footprints at the crime scene.

Who helped Lisa establish a new identity and escape? Where has she been for the last twenty some years? Why hasn’t she contacted her, and did her mom and dad know? Riley begins her own investigation trying to track down her sister with leads across the country. She seeks help from Jeannie, and will do anything to find her, as with no mom or dad and a distant brother ---she desperately needs her sister.

Unsure whom she can trust—she does not want to create suspicion as they will arrest her sister, if the authorities find her. However, this is only the beginning ----more secrets are uncovered. Why is Lisa the Silent Sister? What led up to the events leading to the murder?

As she is trying to find Lisa, Danny is hot on the trail to put Lisa away, as he thinks she deserves to be punished for killing a man. How will she find her with a new identity, and an assumed name?

As the suspense builds, will Riley learn about her own past, and get to Lisa before Danny or the authorities find her? Her father has led a secret life all these years; however, he still was unaware of the biggest secret of all, which may destroy Riley and Lisa.

Told from different POVs-- Riley and Lisa/Jade, a moving story of one family tragedy, and the desperate attempts to pick up the pieces.

Fans of Sarah Jio, Jodi Picoult, T. Greenwood, Emilie Richards, and Amy Hatvany, will enjoy Chamberlain’s THE SILENT SISTER, a fast- paced and engaging novel with highly-charged topics--- This mystery will keep you guessing until the end!

By Holly Chamberlain 

ISBN:  9780758275363

Publisher:  Kensington Publishing Corporation 

Publication Date: June 24, 2014 

Format: Paperback 

Pages: 416 

My Rating:  3 Stars

Having read a number of Holly Chamberlain’s books and a long- time fan, THE BEACH QUILT, an insightful novel, set in the picturesque coastal town of Maine explores questions about the meaning of home and family dynamics.  

A novel of secrets and choices, faced by two families over the course of one eventful summer-- What brings them together, and what factors could them apart—from multi-generational viewpoints – each has a story. 

Cordelia, smart but not the most focused student, passes with solid B's and a sprinkling of As. While she regularly ignores extra credit assignments (unlike her best friend Sarah, who actually likes doing extra work). Cordelia’s father, Jack is the principal at her high school and her mom, Adelaide has owned a successful quilt shop called The Busy Bee for the last ten years. 

Cindy (Sarah’s mother), age thirty eight, also works at the quilt shop and married to Joe (turning forty-two), a contractor and wonderful father, deeply devoted to his wife and children. 

Sarah is smart, unlike her boyfriend Justin; good looking, but happy living paycheck to paycheck. Cordelia could only hope Sarah would dump him so they could go back to spending time together as BFFs.

However, when Sarah turns up pregnant at age sixteen (the good student and perfect daughter), how does this news affect others- Adelaide, Cordelia, Cindy, and Stevie? Does she have the baby, or give it up for adoption? Each woman and girl, has a story and possesses secrets of their own. 

When faced with hard choices, will these women have the courage and strength to make the right decision, and will their friends and family be able to accept their choices? 

As these women piece together a baby quilt and it comes to life, a parallel, as it relates to the lives of these women----the fears, losses, hopes, and dreams- can they survive for a happy ending? Will they find the strength through their friendship and loved ones, to sustain them through their challenges? What sacrifices have led them to their final decisions?

A heartwarming novel, ideal for teens and women of all ages –one of love, loss, tragedy, and triumphant. (nice discussion questions at the end for book clubs). 

A special thanks to Kensington Books and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. 

Actual score 1.75

I'm not sure what i was expecting when i picked this book up. The blurb made it seem like it was this sweet Interracial love story between a white girl and a black guy. But it was very far from that. Yea, the lead protagonist WAS in a secret relationship with a black teenager from her school however the story wasn't so much focused on them. For that I'm disappointed.

This book had way too much going on for me to recommend it. It involved abortion, teen pregnancy, interracial relationships, prejudice, gun violence, bullying. It was like a full 3 seasons of Degrassi wrapped up into 170 pages. I think perhaps if it would have focused on just 3 of those issues, I wouldn't have put it down so much. But this book was just.....a lot of topics to handle in just 160-170 pages.

The story followed Sara, a high school senior who pretty much lives a perfect life, in a perfect world and has a perfect father. It's just it's not so perfect, neither is her world and neither is her father. The story also switches POV from Alex, a bullied, abused teen who's basically obsessed with Sara.

The delivery in Sara's chapters were seamless which makes me wonder why I had so much trouble reading from Alex's POV. It was like it went from showing in Sara's POV, to telling in Alex's POV. This really bothered me because the whole time I couldn't wait for Alex's chapters to be over. It just slowed down the pace for me. It went from detailed to lazy writing. I wasn't sure why Alex's chapters couldn't have been 1st person like Sara's were.

I think this book wanted to be the movie, Higher Learning, but just wasn't. Some of the characters were virtually the same but the execution wasn't as polished as that particular movie.

I think my biggest issue was the fact that Sara was in love with David, a black classmate but the book focused so little on that. It was like it was added for convenience. Her father was a racist,so hey I know let me make her fall in love with a black guy. If the story wasn't going to follow her and her love interest around I think it should have been cut out completely. I couldn't understand for the life of me why it switched from Sara's POV, to a guy who was obsessed with her. So you're telling me that a guy who has a crush on her holds more importance to the story than her actual boyfriend??? Does the author know what it's like to be a black teenager in an all white town??? That itself is it's own story.

I think David deserved his own POV. The fact that he didn't have his own POV made me come to the understanding that he was just Sara's background music, he wasn't an important character.He was just added for convenience. And why does a story featuring an Interracial couple always have to center around their races? I can understand how race can play a huge factor in Interracial relationships, but it's not the only factor. They never really went on real dates, they never talked all night on the phone and they never had the real chemistry to be in love with their relationship. Again, David was just her background music, nothing more! Kim Kardashian could have prolly written a better book centering a young Interracial relationship, she for one has no problem showing her love for the "Brothas".

Sara was somewhat privileged but I think she understood that. She understood that what she initially felt about black people was really wrong. She understood that the fear of the unknown was probably put inside her head by your first teachers, your parents. But I would have liked to see her stick up for what she believed in more. She thought all her problems would be solved by moving to California for school, there her and David could date out in the open. But if your father pretty much controls your life, what makes you think moving to another state is goina solve your problem? What's stopping him from dragging you back to your little hick town of Montana and telling you College is for Liberals? She was just to scared of losing everything that she was willing to do things she wasn't necessarily ready to do.

As far as Alex goes....hmmmmm....I wasn't sure I really related to his character.He had a lot of demons and was very easily influenced. He was the wrong kid to be working in a gun shop around a man with lots of hate in his heart. Maybe if the story would have centered solely on Sara and Alex or Sara and David, cutting out David or Alex, the story would have read better for me. There was no need for both David and Alex. It made the story feel like it was going in a spiral of directions and cutting either one of them out would have had different impacts on the story.

The cover is cute but it's almost like false advertisement because it leads you to believe it focuses solely on a couple.

Overall, I was left a little disappointed in this book, I picked it up hoping for a really sweet love story. But it was far from it.

Was provided an e-copy from Netgalley

What is there to like?

▪ I can’t speak from experience, but it seems to me that this book captures the mental turmoil of what a pregnant teenager would be going through. Evie constantly doubts her ability to go through with any of the options available to her, which paralyzes her and keeps her from making a decision about any of them (to the frustration of those around her), which seemed really genuine. I would say that I can’t imagine what that must be like for girls who are really going through this, but Carter clearly can, and has done a fine job of portraying it so that readers can as well.

▪ The way the chapter headings show what Evie’s state of mind is as the story progresses; likewise, Evie’s names/pronouns for other people as a key to how she feels about them.

▪ Positive portrayal of "alternative" families. The best parents in the book are an interracial, lesbian couple who have adopted.

What's not to like?

    At its heart, this book is a poor-little-rich-girl story, in that Evie becomes pregnant as a result of deliberately acting out for the sake of attention from her well-off but emotionally distant parents, (she’d fit in well in The Breakfast Club, I kept thinking), and that is the driving force for a resolution. I’m not saying that Evie’s privileged socioeconomic position invalidates the story, or that teen pregnancy isn’t always a big deal no matter who it involves. But some readers may not be able to be sympathetic to Evie’s plight, given that she, unlike many teen mothers, has all options available to her, given her family’s resources, and that she, unlike many teen mothers, has a strong, supportive network of friends and family to give her good advice and to take care of her while she makes her decisions and throughout the duration of her pregnancy.

What made me pick it up?

Tryin’ to read YA books about real issues, important ones. (Haven't read enough yet to know about any "Similar To" books, sorry.)

Overall Recommendation: Recommended.