• Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews 2020 October #2
  Sixteen-year-old Johanna knows that being raised by your dead mom's parents isn't the norm, but after thirteen years, she's mostly over it. When she receives a letter from her estranged father asking to talk, she sees an opportunity to learn about her mom, whom her grandparents are frustratingly tight-lipped about. However, while she loves picking up new details, Johanna never expected to find that her mom didn't die in a car crash like her grandparents always claimed. When confronted with the truth—that at two years old, Johanna found a loaded gun and shot her own mother—her whole world falls apart. Richards tackles this tragic story with fierce honesty, and readers should be aware of depictions of panic attacks, cyberbullying, and illegal use of prescription drugs. Richards' characters are dynamic, sympathetic, and flawed. Though many of the dated cultural references require a quick internet search and some depictions of high school are a bit juvenile, when readers get into the trenches of Johanna's emotional journey, they'll be invested. Grades 9-12. Copyright 2020 Booklist Reviews.

Alex Richards is a young adult author and freelance magazine contributor. She is a terrible navigator (just ask the African jungle she got lost in) but makes up for it with a dark sense of humor and home-made horror films. Raised in New Mexico, she and her family live in Brooklyn.
alexrichards.nyc
@alexgirlnyc