Starred Review for Publishers Weekly (Mon Oct 07 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

First-time author Morrison offers her take on the theme of forbidden romance in this moving novel. Leesie, a devout Mormon, lives by her church’s teachings (“No parking. No necking. No petting. No fornication”) and is looking forward to attending Brigham Young University, where there will be “thousands and thousands of the hottest guys on the planet who all live by the same rules.” But that’s before she falls in love with “outsider” Michael, a scuba diver. Michael awakens a passion in Leesie that she doesn’t know she possesses, and Leesie provides a soothing distraction for Michael, who still has nightmares about the hurricane that killed his parents. Through Michael’s dive-log journal entries, Leesie’s poetry and online chats, Morrison conveys underlying tensions that threaten the teenagers’ relationship and test their moral codes. By contrasting Leesie and Michael’s often opposing backgrounds and points of view, she handles the topics of religion and premarital sex gracefully without passing judgment. The message has less to do with religion than learning to respect and cherish others while staying true to one’s own beliefs. Ages 12–up. <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">(Mar.)

Horn Book (Mon Oct 07 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

In their third story, ancient Grecians Pandora, Iole, Alcie, and Homer go on another totally cool quest. They've already tackled Jealousy and Vanity; this time it's Laziness. Pandy and her friends try to stay one step ahead of Hera while rectifying an awful mistake. The self-consciously cheeky romp liberally applies teen slang (sometimes forced) and girl-power bonding to ancient Greek adventure.

Kirkus Reviews (Mon Oct 07 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

In this debut novel, after a belief-stretchingly unexpected hurricane kills high-school senior Michael's parents while on a diving vacation, he's sent to his grandmother's in Washington. There he encounters Leesie, a devout Mormon targeted by every obnoxious boy in her small school, mostly because of her determination, following church rules, to remain "morally clean" until marriage. The narrative alternates between his grief-stricken yet hormone-ravaged point of view, in the form of his "diving log" (an overworked gimmick), and hers, through her poetry and Web chat. His sexual enthusiasm seems implausible given his disabling level of grief. Angst abounds, sex drive periodically besting self-control, as the stock characters, hunky boy and driven girl, seek resolution. Possibly of concern is Michael's use of apparently hyperventilation-like deep breathing—"venting"—to free dive, a technique that may be dangerous for the inexperienced and is sometimes connected with shallow-water blackout and drowning. Teens seeking a dose of religion and romance may enjoy this superficial tale, but a warning to untrained swimmers would be welcome. Many readers may want to just swim by this mundane effort. (Fiction. 12 & up)

School Library Journal (Mon Oct 07 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

Gr 10 Up-Leesie is a beautiful, straight-laced Mormon desperate to escape high school and the boys who torment her there. Michael is a scuba diver whose parents were killed on a dive trip. He desperately longs to dive again, but terrifying flashbacks of the hurricane that killed his friends and family plague him. Leesie is drawn to Michael's brokennessshe feels she can save him. He is attracted to her purity and beauty. Soon, all the rules Leesie has found easy to obey in the past (no hot-and-heavy kissing, no dating an unbeliever, no sex) are no longer cut-and-dry, and her plan to attend BYU no longer seems so important. Both Michael and Leesie must figure out what matters most to them. This book explores the teens' relationship through poetry, instant messages, and journal entries. Although the format is clever, the author doesn't fully commit to sharing this story in the characters' own words. Leesie's poetry is full of emotion and does a great job of expressing her feelings, but Michael's journal entries are unconvincing as the writings of a grief-stricken teen. Also, he is selfish and disrespectful of Leesie's beliefs, and she is too willing to forgive him when he has sex with a classmate. Their relationship is uncomfortably codependent, and when the teens split up at the end, it is a relief. Heather M. Campbell, formerly at Philip S. Miller Library, Castle Rock, CO