Things I Can't Forget

April 29, 2013
Eighteen-year-old narrator Kate Kelly begins the summer after high school in a state of prolonged moral distress. Although firmly believing premarital sex and abortion to be sins, Kate nevertheless provides financial and practical help when her best friend chooses to end a pregnancy. Guilt plagues Kate, undermining the girls' friendship, and clouding her experience as a summer camp counselor, as she observes her peers' behavior through a lens of judgment and disapproval. A budding romantic interest awakens Kate's awareness of the power of sexual urges, while an unexpected friendship with a fellow churchgoer, whom she had shunned in a time of need, causes Kate to question the moral guidance of her church and examine the "Christian" nature of her own actions. Throughout the novel, Kenneally (Catching Jordan) uses a light touch, addressing teenage pregnancy, sexuality, and alcohol use without being pedantic. Wisdom from Kate's father, "Your truth isn't everybody else's truth," provides unanticipated guidance in this compassionate and nuanced exploration of friendship, love, and maturing religious understanding. Ages 13âup. Agent: Sara Megibow, Nelson Literary Agency.

February 1, 2013
A struggle for self-identity forms the core of this crowded novel, the latest entry in Kenneally's Hundred Oaks series. Kate is spending her summer working as a counselor at a church-run camp. She's still reeling from her decision to help her best friend Emily get an abortion and hopes that in the mountains of Tennessee, she will get a sign that God forgives her. With a camp director who singles her out unfairly, counselors who don't act very Christian in Kate's judgmental opinion and the end of her friendship with Emily, there's only one thing that's going right: Kate's blossoming relationship with Matt, the boy who gave Kate her first kiss years ago at camp. Matt is charming, sweet and clearly crazy about her. But the way Matt makes Kate feel contradicts everything she's learned in church. If Kate wants to have friends and love, she'll have to decide what she believes. Kate's sheltered worldview is well-drawn, and the hesitant first steps on her spiritual journey are handled sensitively. There are more characters than necessary, especially with characters from Kenneally's other books making appearances, as well as too many issues, such as abortion, parental abuse and gay relationships, giving the story a kitchen-sink feel. That said, Kate's growth will keep readers, Christian or otherwise, reading. (Fiction. 14 & up)

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July 1, 2013

Gr 9 Up-Though devoutly religious, Kate recently compromised her deeply held beliefs to help her best friend, Emily, obtain an abortion-a decision that has strained the girls' friendship and sent Kate reeling. When the teen becomes a camp counselor the summer before starting college, she questions her identity even further. Romance blossoms between Kate and a fellow counselor, Matt, and she befriends Parker, a girl whom Kate used to look down upon for her wild and promiscuous lifestyle. Subsequently, she begins to reevaluate her judgmental attitudes. Though it's primarily her relationships with others that result in Kate's growth from an uptight, narrow-minded wallflower to a self-assured young woman, characterization is sketchy, and characters are largely one-note (the gorgeous, confident love interest; her lost and confused best friend; her strict, unsympathetic boss). Still, Kenneally's spare, straightforward prose, combined with a heavy dose of romance, makes it an accessible novel that should appeal even to reluctant readers. Kate's habit of questions to herself as she encounters conflicts ("But what if I would rather have a relationship with God than friendships with people who don't believe in him like I do?") imbues her with an uncertainty that will resonate with teens. Adolescents will also relate to her simultaneous feelings of longing and guilt as she copes with her burgeoning sexuality. Despite the flaws, teenagers will find this coming-of-age story both entertaining and poignant.-Mahnaz Dar, Library Journal

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