Kasey Screws Up the World

Everyone makes mistakes—that’s a simple fact of growing up. High school student Kasey’s mistake, however, ends her older sister’s promising dancing career and leaves Kasey without friends or family support. Kasey’s whole life has been spent in the shadow of her older sister, Lara. Kasey loves to dance, but their parents only see Lara’s talent. That all changes on a family cruise where Kasey meets a boy named Finn. With his prompting, Kasey stretches her wings, and tragedy strikes, one that requires significant suspension of disbelief. Back home in Manhattan, Kasey struggles to make things right with Lara and all those she feels she’s harmed, including Finn. While Shane (Alice in Wonderland High) ably portrays the confusing mindset of an ordinary teen, the novel, which shifts between present-day actions and Kasey’s blog posts about what happened on the ship, dwells in trumped-up dramas and easy solutions. Kasey is defined mostly by her rampant self-centeredness, and Lara and their parents are also difficult to love, with the former coming across as a typical mean girl and the latter as criminally negligent. Ages 14–up. (BookLife)