This is a the very dark and sad journey of Ben's young life. Ben is an extremely likable character who you genuinely feel sympathetic toward. He has not had an easy time of it in his 17 years and circumstances continue to spiral out of control. His father left when he was very young. His mom has brought a string of "wrong guys" into his life. Ben killing one of them "by accident" at the young age of ten. Mom is often drunk or spaced out on pain pills. Ben himself suffers from severe migraines due to an auto accident that occurred on the same  day as the shooting so long ago. He now finds himself on a hiking trip with a his favorite teacher, several school mates and his girlfriend, Rose. Not everyone will return from the trip...several  will die. Will Ben be held responsible for their deaths? Read When I Am Through With You and find out.

This is a bery edgy, intense and emotipnal sory.  Ben's story is slowly revealed thoughout the story, thiugh readers are already hooked by the introduction.

This novel is a booklover's dream! Mystery, sex, and good ole Mother Nature! It's hard to find a Young Adult suspense novel nowadays that is truly suspenseful, but Kuehn grips the reader from the first chapter, and the twists just keep coming. I appreciate the male perspective; there's something authentically honest about Ben's point of view that not every female narrator can pull off. As a lover of the outdoors, I really enjoyed the landscape descriptions riddled throughout the novel; the native Californian in me gobbled up the lush details of the camping trip scenery. At the heart of this novel, though, is a story about suffering - emotional, physical, mental - and the tough choices that one is presented with on their path to healing. Recommended for teens 14+

I truly believe that Stephanie Kuehn is a literary genius.  Not only is her writing exceptional but her method of storytelling has the power to create a physical response, one that is often filled with tension and a little bit of anxiety.  Additionally, the way she develops her characters is extraordinary.  They are often multi-layered and complex and such perfect examples of how flawed we as human beings are.  She achieves this with such a graceful grittiness that it often leads to characters that are equal parts compelling and memorable (I mean I'm still thinking about Win from "Charm & Strange" 4 years later and I have a feeling the same will be true of Ben).  

Prior to reading this, "Charm & Strange" held supreme in terms of my favorite, but I have to admit that this one is an extremely close second.  I liked Ben, I really did, even when he was unlikable.  I think the reason why Ben is so interesting to me is because of the complex history that Kuehn gave him.  Additionally, I found his relationship with Rose fascinating, mainly because we never really get to truly know Rose and I think Ben may have felt the same way.  While in other instances this may have been a deterrent to continue reading, I loved that Rose remained swathed in mystery until the very end because it worked so well in the context of the story and Ben himself.

In terms of recommending this to teen readers, I think the complexity of the characters and storytelling is a perfect match for older teens looking for a quality mystery/thriller.  I certainly think it is a necessary purchase for all YA collections and Kuehn fans or those new to her writing have much to look forward to!

When a group of troubled teens sets out on a school camping trip, things quickly go wrong. In addition to the problems they face on the mountain, each of them is struggling with secrets - especially our main guy, Ben, who experiences sudden migraines and has a dark family history.

"When I Am Through With You" is uncompromisingly dark and tragic, but also such a gripping story that I had trouble putting it down. Kuehn plants many uneasy, foreboding moments throughout that will worry you enough to read faster! I will say that it is much heavier than I usually like - I wish there was just a little redemption - but the tense relationships and the physical drama kept me going. I think it will be a big hit with the older teens at my library who want a thriller that has more weight and backstory than your average disaster book. It is definitely a solid continuation of Kuehn's haunting style from "Charm and Strange".