Seventeen-year-old Lexi has been moving from town to town for the last five years, trying to start over after a horrific family event. Unfortunately, her past seems to catch up with her no matter where she is and how many times she changes her name. Now in her senior year, she's living with her aunt in a depressed and depressing housing project in rural New England, attending the local public high school, exploring a relationship with attractive bad boy Marcus, and finding friends in the school theater group. Then she is called upon to speak for her older brother, Scott, in a court hearing that could help release him from prison. The first-person narrative beautifully portrays Lexi's depression, guilt, and uncertainty 's an authentic and fully realistic teen voice. If the shocking reveal of Scott's actions is placed a little early in the plot, readers will by then be thoroughly invested in both Lexi and her story. A sensitive and multilayered look at family loyalty and survivor guilt.

When Lexi was twelve, her brother committed a gruesome crime that made him infamous and her a pariah; since then, she's hidden her identity at a different school every year. Now a senior, Lexi has found a place to belong (and a guy to like), but her secret still haunts her. This raw novel makes Lexi's grief and inner turmoil palpable.

Gr 9 Up-After a horrible tragedy thrusts Lexi Stewart into a harsh national spotlight, she constantly moves from place to place, staying with different family members and changing her name to avoid the public eye and the judgment of her peers. As long as no one around her knows who she really is, she is safe to blend into the crowd and disappear. When she starts her senior year, however, she begins to realize that she is growing close to the people around her, and she must decide if she wants to keep herself at a distance or finally let her friends into her life. Though Lexi's search for control and safety is conscientiously realized, the people around her are one-dimensional, particularly her classmates at school. The love story at the heart of the book is underwhelming and superfluous, though there is a refreshing and nuanced representation of asexuality within Lexi's friend group. Overall, Lexi's motivations and decisions are unconvincing and her peers remain flat and underdeveloped. VERDICT Fans of Megan Miranda and E. Lockhart may find moments of interest in Lexi's story, particularly in her relationship with her brother and the details of their shared tragedy, but those without a vested interest in the genre may do well to choose another title. Madison Bishop, Plymouth Public Library, Plymouth, MA