NO ONE IS ALONE

Michaela struggles with bereavement and adjusting to a new life.

Sixteen-year-old Michaela’s life changes radically when, on what seems like another mundane weekday, her single mother is hit by a car and passes away. Enter her distant father, previously only present at birthdays and around holidays, and his secret family, consisting of his wife and three children, Gabe, Cody, and Emery, who are as shocked to learn of her existence as she is of theirs. After being taken to live with her father’s family, Michaela struggles with grief that is compounded by the revelation that her birth was the result of an affair. She must adjust to new home and school lives and sharing a room with half sister Emery, who is almost exactly her age. As she slowly makes friends through a theater group, she finds herself accidentally treading in Emery’s territory at school as well as at home. Tensions rise, and Michaela must negotiate their tenuous relationship while pursuing her own happiness. While slightly predictable plotwise (particularly the romance storyline), with depictions of teen drug and alcohol use that feel familiar and rote, overall, the characters, their growth, and their changing relationships shine. Discussions of familial responsibility, guilt, and the varied forms grief can take are realistic and well done. The explorations of the impacts of infidelity and hiding the truth are equally intriguing. Michaela and the main cast are White.

Well-drawn, well-developed characters make this a worthwhile read.