Joyride by Anna Banks - OPTIONAL

Banks, Anna  Joyride, 278 pgs.  Feiwel and Friends, 2015.  $17.99  

Content: Language: PG-13 (26 swears); Mature Content: PG-13; Violence: PG-13.   

Carly is a sixteen year old girl who works all night and studies all day in an attempt to make her and her family’s life better.  Carly lives with her brother, but her parents were deported to Mexico so they are doing everything they can to get them back.  One night while Carly is working at the convenient store, someone holds up her favorite customer in the parking lot.  Carly defends her customer and discovers that the kid, Arden, who is doing the hold-up goes to her school.  In a weird twist of events Carly and Arden become friends, which could ruin her family’s chance of being together.   

This is a fast paced read and I liked the characters personalities.  There was a lot of heavy topics such as: deportation, government corruption and death of family.  Overall, it wasn’t a bad read, but it isn’t for everyone either.  It’s not a light teen romance which is what the cover looks like.   

MS, HS – OPTIONAL.  Reviewer, C. Peterson.