Under the Dusty Moon

Minor dilemmas cause major angst for the 16-year-old daughter of a grunge-era rocker. Vic lives in a small Toronto apartment with her free-spirited single mother, Micky, whose band, Dusty Moon, was “Canadian-famous” back in the day. Over the course of a summer, Vic tries to prevent the guy she’s dating from learning her mother’s identity, has a fight with her best friend, and nurses her resentment of her mother, especially when Micky heads to Japan to play a few shows and starts dating a journalist—all problems that loom larger in Vic’s head than anywhere else. (“Things were happening, kind of,” muses Vic at one point, inadvertently giving a fair description of the book.) The relationship between Vic and Micky is the heart of the story, though their Gilmore Girls–style banter can sound more sitcommy than realistic. Sutherland (Something Wiki) skillfully evokes Vic’s libidinous longings as her relationship with Shaun heats up, but readers may lose patience with Vic’s general whininess, and her near-total attitude reversal in the final pages only adds to the sense of her summer struggles being overblown. Ages 12–up. Agent: Maria Vincente, P.S. Literary Agency. (Feb.)