Has to Be Love

July 15, 2015
A Mormon high school senior in small-town Alaska struggles with scars-both internal and external. After a vicious encounter with a bear, Clara Fielding is forced not only to go through life bearing significant facial scars, but to do so without the comfort of her supportive mother, who died in the attack. Happily, Clara's facial disfigurement doesn't slow down her romantic life or her personal aspirations, but she assumes that her choices are all or nothing: the known or the unknown, early marriage or relationship adventures, her religious principles or her emerging passions, small-town life or big-city opportunities, local ambitions or her dream of becoming a serious writer. Eventually, Clara discovers that her options can be more nuanced than she realized. Further, after multiple experiences of others' responses to her marred face, Clara learns that her own reaction to their reactions is what's most important, along with her own survival. This is a poignant coming-of-age tale in which Perry's exploration of Clara's daily dealings with deformity and grief is sensitive and illuminating. However, Clara's inner thoughts on a range of subjects feel repetitious and heavy-handed as part of her present-tense narration. Still, readers navigating similar dilemmas may appreciate Clara's heartfelt angst. Breathtakingly earnest emotions packaged in a contrived narration. (Fiction. 13-16)

COPYRIGHT(2015) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

August 1, 2015

Gr 7 Up-Senior year is a confusing time for most teens, but Clara has extra challenges to deal with. She got into her dream university, but it would take her thousands of miles away from everything she knows in her small Alaska town. Her boyfriend is talking more seriously about their future, but there is a new student teacher who is making her doubt everything she thought she knew. And overshadowing it all are the scars that mar her face and remind her of the violent grisly attack that took her mother. This book breathlessly captures that adolescent moment of being torn between an old life and the possibility of the new as well as romance and the dangers and exhilarations of physical contact. There is a persistent thread of Mormon faith throughout the book, but Perry integrates it with a light touch that reads as integral to the characterizations rather than an attempt at evangelizing. The characters are well developed and engaging, occasionally falling into familiar tropes (the forbidden older lover being one), but are well drawn and likable enough to overcome that. While the Alaskan setting is true to life, even that pales compared to the authentic, dynamically portrayed interior setting: a senior year in high school and all the transitions that entails. What at first glance appears to be a romance novel featuring a stock girl character with two love interests is revealed to be much more mutilayered coming-of-age tale about finding one's own way in the world. VERDICT Teens who identify as Latter Day Saints will certainly gravitate to this novel, though the rich writing, strong female protagonist, and faith message will help it find wider readership.-Elizabeth Nicolai, Anchorage Public Library, AK

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.