Home is Where the Hate is... So begins the quick blurb on the back of
She's So Dead to Us. In this novel, Ally Ryan is returning home after stealing away with her family in the middle of the night. Ally's father was responsible for a financial downfall that impacted many of the once affluent families in the Ryan's social circle. Once they left, Ally's father also abandoned both her and her mother. Ally's mother has decided to move them back to their home town. What ensues is a story with depth of feeling and one that leaves you wanting more.
Kieran Scott does a magnificent job of capturing the turmoil that is the teenage years. It is easy to relate to each of the characters in the novel. While you might not like some of them, Scott does ensure that you at least understand why each acts as he or she does. While many other authors attempt to lean on youth as justification for poor behavior, Scott does not reduce her characters to simply being too young to know better. Each faces the consequences of his/her decisions with an awareness that belies each person's age in years. Scott shows that not all teen characters need to be written as vapid or shallow.
As the story progresses, Scott's characters reveal the motive behind actions. She shows us that not always do the adults act with decorum and tact. There is actually a point where the teenagers surpass the adults in this story in terms of maturity. Scott proves through this novel that it is possible to write a story that actually uplifts teens and shows they can overcome the challenges they face in their lives. She does so without reducing them to whining, self-absorbed individuals that other writers do. There are points in the novel where Scott shows the contradiction of the age at which her characters are. They are in one instance dealing with infidelity and in the next trying to hand on to their youth.
The only con I can list for this novel is that it ended too quickly! Scott has set the novel up for a sequel, which is both good and bad. Good because I want to see where she takes the story. Bad because now I have to wait.
This book was provided free of charge as a review copy. The publisher had no editorial rights or claims over the content or the conclusions made in this review. No payment was provided in return for this review.
