Kiss It

While 18-year-old Chaz is avoiding making choices about her future, she's completely obsessed with sex and is on the prowl. She lusts after cute but troubled Sebastian, who's visiting his father over Christmas break in Chaz's small Minnesota town, but as they become acquainted, her feelings for him deepen. Soon, she finds herself revealing her personal confusion, concerns over her "emotionally constipated mother," and her father's cancer diagnosis. While Chaz's audacious attitude toward sex can seem unrealistic, she makes it clear it's a front to mask her vulnerability ("It's funny how showing my emotional innards was far more daunting than taking off my bra"). The psychological growth she achieves due to her best friend's unexpected pregnancy and her father's illness, is blatantly spelled out ("My life is about wanting to have sex and running and surviving my time in Milton—it all feels so trivial and small and petty"), but readers will relate to her fears of being trapped in her parents' lives and appreciate that, while she doesn't lose her assertive edge, she welcomes real tenderness. Ages 14–up. (June)