ALA Booklist (Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2001)

A diary format, an enticing locale, and the hot issue of abusive teen relationships combine in a quick and absorbing read. Key Biscayne High School sophomore Nick is rich, handsome, and a good athlete and scholar. He has finally found the girl of his dreams in Caitlin. Unfortunately, his father's physical and verbal abuse has shaped Nick's ideas of how to behave in a relationship: he bullies, tortures, and finally hits Caitlin. A restraining order and an anger management course result in the diary entries we read, with flashbacks that show how Nick got to this point. Noteworthy in this first novel is Nick's believable relationship with best friend Tom, full of awkward silences and shameful secrets. The situations and dialogue ring frighteningly true, perhaps due to the author's background as a lawyer who has tried domestic violence cases. No graphic sex, but realistic violence makes this more appropriate for high-school readers.

Kirkus Reviews

Nick Andreas—16, rich, smart, popular—seems to have a perfect life, and when beautiful, talented Caitlin becomes his girlfriend, it looks to outsiders as though it can't get any better. After beating up Caitlin, however, Nick receives a restraining order to stay away from her and is sentenced to complete a family violence program, as well as to keep a journal that describes his relationship with her. First-novelist Flinn combines Nick's present-day life—attempts to win back his former girlfriend, anger-management meetings, and struggles to maintain self-control—with diary entries that reveal his controlling and abusive relationship with Caitlin, his own verbal and physical abuse by his father, and low self-esteem. With such important subject matter, particularly for young males, and research by the author, there's potential here; however, it fails to meet readers' expectations. Characters, stereotypical at times, are not fully developed, and the language is often contrived. Nick's anger appears out of nowhere when he begins to date Caitlin and subsides too quickly by the end. Although it shouldn't be used for bibliotherapy, it offers a lot to think about, and many teens will probably overlook its major flaws because of the format and real-world content. (Fiction. YA)

Horn Book (Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2001)

Attending a court-ordered family violence program after hitting his girlfriend, Nick recalls, through journal entries, how his escalating need for control ruined his relationship with Caitlin. Nick's excessively macho narrative is better at capturing the smaller moments of verbal cruelty than the more outsized scenes of rage. The tone is sometimes heavy-handed, but presenting the story from the perspective of the abuser is intriguing.

School Library Journal

Gr 9 Up-Key Biscayne High School and south Florida environs provide the affluent setting in which sophomore Nick and his friends carouse. Nick is rich, good looking, an athlete, a talented poet, in love with beautiful Caitlin-and he is an insecure, manipulative individual being raised by a violent and abusive father. The story opens as Caitlin is awarded the protection of a restraining order against Nick, and the plot unfolds along two streams. Regular font is "real time"-January 5th through September 2nd-while the "handwritten" font flashes back to reveal the stages by which Nick's first love twists inexorably into abuse. His former friends turn against him, he attends court-ordered group counseling sessions with a bunch of abusers he sees as losers, and his dad still beats him. The one member of the group he bonds with, Leo, withdraws when he is able to talk his girlfriend into dropping her charges. Nick gradually begins to perceive the vile depths to which he had fallen by observing Leo's obsessive behavior toward Neysa, which culminates when Leo murders her and commits suicide. Nick learns important lessons about being a man, responsibility, self-control, and trust. He successfully confronts his father and, in the final journal entry, begins his junior year by reestablishing contact with his former best friend. An open and honest portrayal of an all-too-common problem.-Joel Shoemaker, Southeast Junior High School, Iowa City, IA Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Starred Review for Publishers Weekly (Thu Apr 28 00:00:00 CDT 2022)

In what <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">PW called "a gripping tale," a 16-year-old, who is considered perfect by his classmates, suffers a turbulent home life with an abusive father, and he himself follows the pattern of violence. Ages 13-up. <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">(Oct.)

<EMPHASIS TYPE=""BOLD"">Note: Additional reviews of children's books can be found in the Children's Religion section (p. 69).