Nine girls struggle with passivity and agency in a collection of thematically linked short stories.Canadian author Weber (If You Live Like Me, 2015, etc.) uses the stories of nine teenage girls to probe the depths of adolescence and womanhood. The title story follows a girl who is bullied by her looks-obsessed mother and controlling boyfriend; "deep girls are no fun," he tells her. She dreams of rejecting them and immerses herself in classic literature. In "Out of the Woods," a girl resents her mother's agoraphobia and her grandmother's recent breast cancer surgery; she is left as the maternal figure for them both. "Relativity" follows a babysitter's crush on her charges' father and jealousy of their apparently lazy, undeserving mother. The protagonists' white default becomes explicit when blackness is othered; Southern dialect is rendered with condescending exaggeration. The girls' movements toward agency are often spurred by a possessive boyfriend or father, but rather than standing up to the male figures in their lives, the girls tend to choose quietly stepping away. It's a narrative choice that isn't always satisfying even as it makes space for subtler kinds of female strength in a genre dominated by tough but two-dimensional warrior princesses. Ultimately, the blurred lines between depth, passivity, and weakness too often lead to anticlimax.A quietly tender, if underwhelming, collection. (Fiction. 13-16)

Gr 8 Up-In this collection of nine vignettes, each story delves into the life of a girl, her world as she sees it, and how the people in her life shape it. Stark glimpses into the way young women are perceived, the expectations placed upon them, and the effects of their choices make this book a fulfilling, emotional roller coaster. The tales are beautifully complex, from a girl expected to be perfect and hide her external flaws by dressing the right way and dating the right boy, to the envy of perceived freedom only to find that perception is not reality. These stories are deep and vibrant, allowing readers to find themselves engulfed in lives that may mirror their own. The everyday struggles that are conveyed within a few pages lead to a personal exploration of belonging and empathy. Each central character's voice and situation is unique, but the feel of the work carries throughout. An overarching theme of growth and parental perceptions interweaves through the lives of characters who feel wonderfully based in reality. This work would make an excellent addition to school classrooms as a way to explore tone and characterization and to encourage emotional growth and communication. VERDICT Written with depth but in common language as to make it accessible for lower level readers. Recommended for purchase for libraries serving high school patrons. Elizabeth Speer, Weatherford College, TX