But Corrine sticks by Ellie's side through thick and thin and continually tries to help her (and understand her). Ellie never really confides in her friend. When Ellie sleeps with Josh at a party, she thinks he'll be different but he leaves just like the others.Ĭorrine, Ellie's best friend, doesn't understand why Ellie continues to sleep with boys if she just finds herself extremely depressed a few days later. But instead of having boyfriends, the boys tell her she's beautiful and that they need her, only to sleep with her and leave her without looking back. She thinks that having a boyfriend will fill the emptiness inside of her. I'm sure that I was probably in need of a good cry/sob to begin with, but this book really blew me away.Įllie is 16 years old and desperately trying to find love. This is probably one of the most heart-wrenching books I have read in a while. The blaring contrast between stable kids from loving families versus lost kids from dysfunctional families oversimplifies a complex subject. Caleb's single mother is the novel's moral center. Each, of course, comes from a stable family. The plot of this novel is tired, but Corinne and Caleb, at least, are mercifully convincing and thoughtful. Ellie's and Josh's families are filled with stock dysfunction-from Ellie's shrill, uptight mother and perfect-on-the-outside home to Josh's washed-up, hard-drinking father and hapless mother. The next nine months are narrated by four charaters-Ellie, Josh, and their best friends, Corinne and Caleb.

It turns out the condom 'slipped off' (?) and she gets pregnant. Even seemingly decent Josh, a virgin, leaves right after their tryst and never speaks to her again. Keywords: teen pregnancy, abortion, friendship, high schoolĭescription: (Amazon) Ellie has sex with boys who make her feel wanted and beautiful and then never call again.

Jumping Off Swings by Jo Knowles