Friend has neatly captured the mix of anger, hormones, and confusion that boil in a 13-year-old's brain. Writing about the ways families blend with messiness, anger, love, confusion isn't easy, but she's done it, and given us one terrific coming-of-age novel. A-



Friend offers no fairy-tale ending but presents, through hip conversations and humor, believable characters and a feel-good story with a satisfying amount of pathos.



This beautifully written and great coming-of-age novel is short, clean, sweet and will truly engage both middle and high school readers.



[Friend] has an unmistakable gift for exploring family dynamics. . . . The tender scenes have a genuine poignancy, as when Evyn and her dad share a heart-to-heart in the middle of the night, or when Evyn's stepmother tells her about her own mother's death. In the end, these moving moments make for a story that is both real and heartfelt.



Friend gives Evyn an authentic teen voice and emotions, at the same time providing a satisfying blend of humor and empathy that will strike a particular chord with readers coping with their own friendship and blended family troubles.



Friend . . . takes readers on the roller coaster ride that is Evyn's new life. You'll feel her frustration, sadness, and fear on every page.

Is it crazy to talk to your dead mother on a daily basis? Thirteen year-old Evyn Linney doesn’t think so. For as long as Evyn can remember, she’s talked to her mom—the only mom she’s ever wished for, the only one she still wants. And now, Evyn needs her more than ever because, bombshell: Evyn’s dad is getting married. And they’re moving to Boston. Worse, the woman he’s marrying has six kids. Six. Six kids that Evyn and her brother Mackey will soon be related to.

What happens when you’re forced to leave the only life you’ve ever known, to move in with a bunch of strangers? When you can’t stand the woman your father’s in love with? When you find yourself falling hard and fast for your twenty year-old stepbrother?

The perils of dealing with a new stepfamily are illuminated in BOUNCE, the story of a girl who must learn how to manage her life . . . even when so many things are beyond her control.

BOUNCE, one of the "NYPL's Best Books for the Teen Age 2008," is Natasha Friend's third novel, following her widely praised Perfect (2004) and Lush (2006). Available at major booksellers.