i genuinely cannot believe that leila mottley is only 23 as of right now. she writes characters with such depth, such complexity and nuance to every single one of their choices; in many ways, i feel as though she does exactly what other much older authors have always strived to do in a near-perfect way. i really liked her first novel <i>nightcrawl</i>, but this one was just something else. i adored the three main characters with all my heart — they all made really questionable choices, but mottley made them come across as so endlessly likeable that i could not help but root for all three of them, emory with her dreams of majoring in biology, simone and her fierce love for her two children, and adela, who went from being a sheltered, somewhat annoying upper-middle-class kid to immersing herself in the group. and of course, the budding relationship between emory and adela was absolutely lovely. i don't want to give away any details, but i loved the way mottley inserted it into the story.

besides that, i really liked the snippets we got from the rest of the group, as well as the way mottley describes the florida panhandle with such beauty. i could feel the heat and humidity and the sweat all through the girls' school year, and i really have to commend her for describing such an apparently awful place with such warmth and appeal.

overall, this was a brilliant read. i cannot wait to see what mottley comes up with next; although this is only her second novel, i can already tell that i'm going to dutifully follow the rest of her career. please make sure to check this one out when it gets released on june 24th!

This is an interesting story about teenage pregnancies. The girls form a friendship group centered on an old truck for some reason. This seems a bit dated in attitudes and the girls are still very reliant on men, and are looking for a man to love them and support their children, although they do find their strength in the end. However, there is far too much detail about childbirth and breastfeeding for my liking.

Wasn't sure at first about the book as it was about teenage pregnancies and thought it might be the same as the others. but something about the title and blurb intrigued me so i read on. it's a very different novel to the rest on the subject and delves into all matter of things really well. the title of the book is very direct and lends itself well to the themes within

What an emotional story. How these girls go from taking an unideal situation and not only making the best of it but discovering themselves along the way. I hope it will bring awareness to teen pregnancy and al that it entails.