The take-over friend

Carol Dines

Book - 2022

On the second day of ninth grade, introverted Frances meets Sonja, a wildly funny newcomer from France, and the girls form a fast friendship. Frances adores Sonja's worldliness, and Sonja adores Frances's family, especially her older brother, Will. Frances and Sonja immediately declare themselves "The Poets" and rally their homeroom to enter the homecoming parade with a poetry-mobile built from Frances's father's old band bus. But respective family crises begin to escalate, and tensions come to a head when Sonja temporarily moves in with Frances's family - forcing each friend to decide how close is too close.

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YOUNG ADULT FICTION/Dines Carol
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Location Call Number   Status
Young Adult New Shelf YOUNG ADULT FICTION/Dines Carol (NEW SHELF) Due Sep 22, 2023
Subjects
Genres
Young adult fiction
Domestic fiction
Published
Raleigh, NC : Fitzroy Books, imprint of Regal House Publishing, LLC [2022]
Language
English
Main Author
Carol Dines (author)
Physical Description
205 pages ; 22 cm
ISBN
9781646032891
Contents unavailable.
Review by School Library Journal Review

Gr 9 Up--Frances struggles to find her voice as she enters high school until she meets Sonja, an intelligent and witty girl who completes her sentences and seamlessly fits into her family life, and the pair become best friends. It quickly becomes apparent to Frances, and some members of her family, that this friendship is toxic and in need of boundaries before Frances's voice is canceled. There is a suspenseful tone to the work, expressed in first-person past tense from Frances's point of view, as Frances foreshadows a looming event to come from Sonja's actions. The interplay between Sonja and Frances, and Frances's struggle to say no to her friend, are authentic, but the explosive ending of violence stretches credulity for a contemporary work. Catherine Lo's How It Ends and Mariah MacCarthy's Squad offer more realistic reads on the subject. While toxic friendships and boundaries play a central role, so does mental health. Frances's jumbled feelings regarding her father, who is bipolar and opts to not medicate for much of the novel, are genuine. Besides Frances's father, depression, suicide, other forms of self-harm, and attempts to harm animals are connected to mental health. Unfortunately, these latter incidents are not dealt with as sensitively, which reinforces existing stigma. Rocky Callen's A Breath Too Late is a more sensitive approach to self-harm and suicide.VERDICT A pass; this work salaciously connects toxic behavior to mental health issues.--Rachel Zuffa

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Review by Kirkus Book Review

An intense high school friendship turns toxic. At the beginning of ninth grade, Frances meets cosmopolitan new girl Sonja, welcoming her friendship as her former best friend recently moved out of Minneapolis to the suburbs and they quickly lost touch. Frances is instantly drawn to Sonja, and it is the first time that she feels seen. In Sonja she recognizes what she hopes to become. But red flags soon appear, with Sonja telling her who she should and shouldn't be friends with and what school activities she should participate in. Starting with her inviting herself over for a sleepover, Sonja begins inserting herself into Frances' family: befriending Frances' father, who has bipolar disorder; dating her brother; and getting jealous when Frances' older sister returns from college for Thanksgiving and Frances wants time alone with her. Though she knows things are a bit off, Frances, whose father's nickname for her is "Easy-One," is reluctant to shake up the status quo. She admires Sonja and likes how she feels brave and empowered because of their relationship. The characters are realistically drawn, and there is an authenticity to their motives. Readers will feel empathy for Frances as Sonja seems to easily take over her life; when Frances does stand up for herself and her family, the scary consequences are deeply felt. Main characters are White, and both Frances and Sonja have one Jewish parent. An absorbing cautionary tale of problematic friendship. (Fiction. 12-18) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.