Kirkus
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Rome, 2007: a backpack, a hostel bed, and a summer at the edge of adulthood. Seventeen-year-old Jenny Campbell arrives in Rome on a whirlwind post-graduation trip before her first semester at New York University. Colin—the Irish guy working the hostel’s front desk—briefly catches her eye, but Jenny is fiercely focused on independence. She moves on to Greece, where the thrill of travel is eroded by the sexual harassment she faces from strange men. Jenny impulsively extends her trip and circles back to Rome, where she reconnects with Colin, and they fall into a fleeting, intoxicating romance. Jenny returns to Colorado profoundly changed, the transformation deepening when she learns she’s pregnant. She chooses to end her pregnancy with the support of her family, grappling with grief, uncertainty, and the realization that the future she once imagined no longer resonates. Poet Macios’ YA debut, told in free verse, has a lyrical and conversational voice while delivering passages of profound and often surprising emotional depth in both Jenny’s present day and her memories. The layout of the verse occasionally shifts into different forms on the page, although these configurations don’t always enhance the narrative. The story highlights how normalized the sexual assault of young women is (and how easily dismissed) while offering an authentic portrait of early adulthood, marked by intensity and the fragile thrill of becoming oneself. Jenny, who’s bisexual, is cued white. Balances tenderness and upheaval with striking emotional clarity.(Verse fiction. 14-18) Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.