The long-standing friendship of three Iowa teens turns into a twisted web of jealousy, deceit and suspicion the summer after they graduate from high school. Darin, paralyzed from the waist down from a swimming-pool accident two years earlier, grows increasingly combative and hostile toward best buddy Jeremy and his own girlfriend, Joy, a softball star with a good shot at a college scholarship. Motivated by misguided feelings of guilt, Joy and Jeremy vow to stand by Darin even though they have fallen in love with each other and have begun to sleep together, "just for the experience." Other issues intensifying the already complex state of affairs include Joy's mysterious illness during a series of championship ballgames, her unplanned pregnancy, a case of blackmail, Darin's father's alcoholism and questions about Jeremy's parentage. This jam-packed first novel written by a high-school teacher will keep the reader fully absorbed, and the plot is, to a large extent, protected against melodrama by the voice of the salt-of-the-earth narrator, Jeremy. While characters' responses to various dilemmas are generally convincing as well as moving, Joy's decision to keep her baby and juggle motherhood with college and sports comes off as naive and preordained. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
Grade 8 Up-A teenage love triangle plays itself out during a hot Iowa summer with the battle for the girls' state softball championship as background. It's senior year for three best friends, and the end of their closeness is in sight. Darin, wheelchair bound since a swimming pool accident two years before, has become more bitter and possessive with each passing day. His longtime girlfriend, Joy, is the star player on the team. Jeremy admits to Joy that he's been in love with her since grade school and they embark on a sexual adventure. The young woman juggles the affections of both boys, becomes pregnant, and manages to hang on through morning sickness to pitch a great game. Darin hits bottom and is forced to turn to his family to rehabilitate himself. Jeremy learns some painful family secrets before he leaves for the Navy. Triangle chugs along like a standard YA problem novel, but it tips over into soap opera towards the end. Darin's father is an alcoholic; his mother tries to seduce Jeremy; Jeremy's grandmother turns out to have been a call girl. Didacticism lays its heavy hand on the plot now and again. However, the sense of season and place is palpable, the characters are nice kids in a tough spot, and having a girl jock as heroine is refreshing. The softball action has the authoritative ring of a fastball popping into a catcher's mitt, and the championship game is a thriller.
Kathy Fritts, Jesuit High School, Portland, OR
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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