You Belong to Me
Hayley Krischer. Putnam, $19.99 (320p) ISBN 978-0-5936-9838-9
Named after the daughter of famed 1990s couple Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love, high school junior Frances “Bean” Ellis is proud of the outcast identity she and her friends have developed among the students at New York’s Talentum, an exclusive private school. Then her crush Julia invites Bean to a party hosted by Julia’s mother, founder of wellness and lifestyle company Deep. As her relationship with Julia blossoms, Bean immerses herself in Julia’s mother’s teachings, ignores her friends, and enjoys newfound popularity. With help from charismatic Deep leader Kai, Bean confronts her feelings of inadequacy and her grief surrounding her alcohol-dependent father’s death. But when a tragedy occurs, Bean enlists her friends to probe Deep’s facade. Krischer (The Falling Girls) spins a tense and fast-paced plot full of ’80s and ’90s references and allusions to the #MeToo movement and Jeffrey Epstein scandal as a cautionary tale. Despite Bean and Julia’s underdeveloped romance and a convenient reveal, this page-turning novel highlights the way gaslighting and peer pressure can have devastating consequences. Characters are intersectionally diverse. Ages 14–up. (Apr.)
Details
Reviewed on: 01/16/2025
Genre: Children's
Other - 1 pages - 978-0-593-69839-6