The Implosion of Aggie Winchester

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Sixteen-year-old Aggie feels compelled to investigate rumors that her cancer-stricken mother, principal of her small Wisconsin high school, has rigged the prom queen election to keep Aggie's best friend Sylvia, a pregnant Goth, from winning.

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Outstanding submitted by Susan4Pax -prev. sueij- on August 13, 2013, 9:52pm Wow. This is my favorite of Lara's three novels.

I think what I love most is that it is ALL about choices and consequences... even when those consequences are 180 degrees away from what you meant to happen. (And when you are a teenager with only part of the story and less life experience than you'll have when you are, say, 40, that can happen!) But life happens anyway, and the consequences are there, and now what are you (and the people around you) going to do about them?

This particular story is about the used-to-wear-pink-but-turned-Goth daughter of the high school principal, her newly pregnant best friend who may or may not have been elected prom queen, and her mom's health crisis. Plus, y'know, the million complicated relationships that happen in the midst of it.

The author handles it all amazingly well, with honesty and depth. I loved this one.

real teens with real problems submitted by SurfGrape on June 15, 2014, 5:18pm High School junior Aggie Winchester would have a hard enough time just being the principal's daughter in small town St. Davis, Minnesota. But now her mom has cancer, and her best friend is pregnant, and her ex-boyfriend wants to sleep with her but not really be seen with her in public, and on top of that, there's some funny business with the election of prom queen that Aggie's mom may or may not be involved in. Is it any wonder that Aggie is about to implode?

Except, she doesn't. Not really. And that's the genius of this novel. While school, friendships, boyfriends, and her family are falling apart around her, Aggie learns that she has what it takes to stay whole and healthy in the midst of this mess. As the daughter of a teacher, I could relate to Aggie's home life. The friendships, while sometimes straight out of the set of the movie Mean Girls, were so true-to-life you expected to see these same teens at the local mall. When it seems as if every bookshelf is crowded with vampire books, it's nice to read a realistic book for teens, filled with people you might actually know.