No Place Like Here

Ashlyn, 17, is nearing the end of a year-long exile at an exclusive Shenandoah Valley boarding school, where she was sent due to a youthful mistake, and she’s looking forward to going home. Her plans are derailed, though, when her perfectionist father is sent to prison for tax evasion (something she learns when the story breaks online) and her mother enters a rehabilitation facility to treat her depression. Instead of home, Ashlyn heads to a wilderness retreat center to work with her 18-year-old cousin Hannah. She tries to avoid making waves, but her resolve is tested when she begins to notice inconsistencies in her boss’s behavior, when she’s forced to confront her own recent past, and when a romance begins to bloom. Told in Ashlyn’s fluid, first-person voice, the narrative includes realistic self-talk that will feel familiar to many teens. Ashlyn’s almost too-perfect maturity may ring an occasional false note, but June (Everywhere You Want to Be) maintains just enough drama to keep the story entertaining in this insightful coming-of-age novel. Ages 13–up. [em]Agent: Kevan Lyon, Marsal Lyon Literary Agency. (May) [/em]