Positively Beautiful

In her first YA novel, adult author Mills (the Sabrina Dunsweeny mysteries) follows a high school junior after her widowed mother is diagnosed with breast cancer. Erin soon learns that this isn’t the first time that her mother has had breast cancer, and that her mother also has a BRCA gene mutation, which means Erin likely has it, too. Erin reels from the potential implications of this news, and starts taking flying lessons as an escape, while talking to a girl named Ashley in an online forum about the BRCA genes. Meanwhile, Erin’s social life plummets when she becomes the target of classmate Faith, who spreads rumors about her. Mills’s novel starts off strong, carefully taking Erin through her mother’s diagnosis and treatment, while unpacking Erin’s fear of finding out whether she’s positive for a BRCA mutation. A dramatic twist midway through the story, born out of Erin’s lack of control over her life, strains believability, however, and brings excess melodrama to a story whose emotions already run high. Ages 14–up. Agent: Sarah Davies, Greenhouse Literary Agency. (Mar.)