In this suspenseful, absorbing novel, seventeen-year-old Theo Cartwright's best friend Donovan reappears after four years missing. Theo soon realizes his kidnapper is her (older) ex-boyfriend, Trent. Theo's first-person narration reveals both disturbing details of her time with Trent and her current conflicting feelings of guilt and jealousy: "Either Donovan ran away with my boyfriend...or I was charmed by the scum of the fucking earth."

Colbert's strong debut believably portrays self-delusion through a first-person voice aders will see the protagonist's every mistake but also understand why she made them. Theo, 17, is heading toward the Summer Intensive auditions that should fast-track her ballet career. But that goal dovetails with a surprise: the return of former best friend Donovan, who disappeared four years ago. It is revealed that Donovan had been abducted by a man twice his age ris, who'd had an intense sexual relationship with Theo when she was 13. He's a pedophile, though that word doesn't appear until late in the novel. Theo's love for Chris had seemed real, just as it does now for pot-smoking pianist Hosea. The central moral dilemma ould she risk damaging her ballet career by coming clean about her relationship with Chris at his trial? an effective one, though the book's meat and potatoes is Theo's struggle with love, lust, and loyalty. This is the latest in a bold new crop of gutsy, messy debuts, including Carrie Mesrobian's Sex & Violence (2013) and Stephanie Kuehn's Charm & Strange (2013).

Theo Cartwright, from one of the few black families in a predominantly white Chicago suburb, lives for ballet, and she-s destined for stardom on stage. When her childhood best friend Donovan-who disappeared four years earlier at age 13-resurfaces, Theo-s life is upended. Debut novelist Colbert has written an extraordinary book about dance, seamlessly intertwined with the chilling aftermath of a kidnapping. In honest, confident prose, Colbert builds characters whose flaws, struggles, and bad decisions make them real and indelibly memorable. Theo may be a gifted and driven dancer, but she-s also still a 17-year-old who can shut down a smug classmate with an acid remark, drinks and smokes with her friends, became sexually involved with an older guy at 13 (and never really thought of it as rape), is keeping an eating disorder in check, and carries heavy secrets about her connection to Donovan-s disappearance. Colbert gives all her characters similar depth (including the pianist/school drug dealer Theo is drawn to, even though he has a girlfriend), and it-s this complexity and empathy that set this gripping story apart. Ages 14-up. Agent: Tina Wexler, ICM. (Apr.)-

Do not let this book fool youit is not about ballet. Theo Cartwright is a talented dancer, on her way to becoming a prima ballerina, but that is very little of what this book is about. The topics covered span from family, friendship, talent, and passion to high school drug use, sex, anorexia, kidnapping and rape. In seventh grade, at the age of thirteen, Theo's best friend, Donovan, went missing. Now, four years later, Theo is a high school junior and devoted dancer working toward a prestigious summer program, but her world begins to unravel once again when Donovan returns home and his alleged kidnapper is taken into custody. Unable to make sense of what is coming to light, Theo finds herself plagued with questions and overwhelmed by memories, slipping deeper into old destructive habits and troubled by tough decisions that may compromise her dreams.For her debut, Colbert has put out a stunningly poignant novel. This captivating book is a must-purchase at libraries where readers are looking for darkly emotional and bold book choices. Readers who discover this book will be unable to put it down.Shana Morales.

Gr 9 Up-Theo, 17, is determined to become one of the few African American professional ballet dancers. While she's preparing for a high-stakes audition, flirting with a new crush (a talented pianist who also happens to be the local pot dealer), and recovering from a bout of anorexia, she learns that her best friend, Donovan, who went missing four years earlier, has suddenly returned. Donovan's kidnapper was Theo's former boyfriend, an adult who lied about his age to the then-13-year-old dancer. Theo thought what she and Trent (aka Chris) had was love, but she gradually realizes that it was actually something more sinister. Debut author Colbert bravely chooses realistic, if not necessarily happy resolutions to some subplots: Theo's decision to testify against Chris forces her to put her ballet career on hold, and what looks like a promising new romance turns unexpectedly sour. However, the abundance of high-interest motifs and devices (an unreliable narrator, statutory rape, kidnapping, eating disorders, and hints of the elite world of ballet) sometimes overloads the story, and the connections among them often feel forced. Libraries where All the Truth That's in Me by Julie Berry (Viking, 2013), Bunheads by Sophie Flack (Little, Brown, 2011), and Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson (Viking, 2009) are popular will want to consider this title, as will those seeking to enhance their collection of books by and about strong African American women. Jill Ratzan, I. L. Peretz Community Jewish School, Somerset, NJ

Against the backdrop of an intriguingly dark suburban Chicago, a teen dancer struggles with her past. Seventeen-year-old Theo Cartwright has a passion for ballet and a penchant for falling for the wrong guy. She also has a tendency to starve herself when reality feels beyond her control, and unfortunately for Theo, life has dealt her more than her fair share of blows. Theo appears to be on relatively sure footing now. She's eating. She's supported by two fiercely loyal best friends and by her loving parents. And her dream of becoming an elite dancer is on the brink of coming true. Yet when her best friend, Donovan, suddenly returns four years after disappearing, Theo is forced to confront old demons. It's an intriguing premise, and debut author Colbert does a commendable job creating authentic teen characters that readers will recognize from the halls of their own high schools. Unfortunately, while there is enough here to entertain, the story never reaches its full potential. References to Theo's struggles with anorexia are surprisingly and disappointingly lacking in emotion. Ditto for her relationship with Donovan. Theo's a textbook anorexic, almost to the point of cliché, but never are readers given the opportunity to feel her desperation. And while there are flashbacks aplenty, there are surprisingly few that shed light on the deep connection Theo and Donovan presumably once shared. This is a novel that ultimately misses the…point. (Fiction. 14-18)