cover image Maxine Banks Is Getting Married

Maxine Banks Is Getting Married

Lori Aurelia Williams, Roaring Brook, $16.99 (336p) ISBN 978-1-59643-513-1

Desperate to leave home, 17-year-old Maxine fakes a pregnancy so her mother will let her marry her boyfriend, Brian ("I could hear Mama taking out her unhappiness on the pots and pans I left drying in the sink.... The banging didn't bother me. All I could hear were the wedding bells ringing in my ears"). But Brian soon leaves her for a "trashy" schoolmate, forcing Maxine to look after his troubled teenage cousin, Demonee, in exchange for money for her mortgage and bills. Williams's fans will recognize the well-drawn, impoverished Houston neighborhood and many characters (including Maxine) from her other books. Readers may sometimes feel bogged down by the expository dialogue and heavy plotting (among the many twists, Maxine discovers that Brian's new girlfriend is actually pregnant, and she walks in on Demonee holding hands with another girl). But the never-ending drama keeps the pages turning quickly, and although Williams can belabor Maxine's delusions about her future, Maxine is a gutsy and likable protagonist; her gradual realization that she needs to grow up, while not unexpected, still comes as a relief. Ages 14–up. (Oct.)