Awards
Finalist for the Oregon Book Award
ALA-YALSA Quick Pick
Synopses & Reviews
Easy. At the ripe young age of fourteen Jessica has discovered that getting the attention she wants is just that easy. It's not the attention of a divorced mother who spends all of her time grieving over a broken marriage. Nor is it that of a father with a new girlfriend who's moving on with his life. It's certainly not the attention of a clueless older sister or a best friend since grade school who still acts like she's in grade school. No. For some reason being noticed by her friends and family seems to have become almost impossible. Boys and men are a different matter altogether. With the right clothes and attitude, Jessica realizes that she can get all the male attention she wants.
What she doesn't realize is how easy it is to get more than you're ready for.
In this compelling and often harrowing novel for teen readers, first-time author Kerry Cohen Hoffmann delves into the mind of a teenage girl as she attempts to replace the shifting relationships with friends and family with sexual exploration. With candid storytelling rooted in years of personal experience, Mrs. Hoffmann offers a searing look at how easy it is to take a wrong turn in search for the right answers.
Review
"Hoffmann's writing talent saves the novel from becoming too didactic, even as the story hammers home a lesson that is far better for teenage girls to learn from a book than from experience." Booklist
Review
"The writing is realistic, insightful, and nonjudgmental. This book can provide teens with some understanding as to why people might make risky choices while offering readers the assurance that bad decisions need not be irrevocable." School Library Journal
Review
"[T]he story will resonate with those confused by the allure of bad decisions, and it might give others insight into the pain of a so-called 'slut.'" VOYA
Synopsis
In this snapshot of a life out of control, 14-year-old Jessica starts thinking that it's time to make some major changes of her own.
About the Author
Kerry Cohen Hoffmann has worked as a psychotherapist, specializing in teen girls, and as a teacher of writing and literature. Also the author of Loose Girl: A Memoir, she lives in Portland, Oregon.