The take-over friend

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

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.