PURE. UNPLANNED. PERFECT. Those were Nick’s summer plans before Sasha stepped into the picture. With the collateral damage from his parents’ divorce still settling and Dani (his girl of the moment) up for nearly anything, complications are the last thing he needs. All that changes, though, when Nick runs into Sasha at the beach in July. Suddenly he’s neck-deep in a relationship and surprised to find he doesn’t mind in the least. But Nick’s world shifts again when Sasha breaks up with him. Then, weeks later, while Nick’s still reeling from the breakup, she turns up at his doorstep and tells him she’s pregnant. Nick finds himself struggling once more to understand the girl he can’t stop caring for, the girl who insists that it’s still over.

"Debut novelist Martin displays uncanny insight, replacing the issue-driven engine common to most pregnant-teen stories with an emotionally complex and disarmingly frank coming-of-age tale." - Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

"Authentic and sophisticated." - Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

"Without a trace of hysteria or overwrought sensibility, Nick's layers are peeled back with unstinting honesty as he works through the seldom-explored guy's side of first (embarrassing, fumbling) sex, a wounding breakup, and teen pregnancy." - The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

"C.K. Kelly Martin’s first young adult novel is frank to the point of almost being brutal and yet so sincere that readers are totally immersed in the main characters and suffer the highs and lows of their relationship right along with them...Some critics may find this novel too gritty and detailed for teen readers, but I applaud Martin for her intelligent characters and her sensitive portrayal of their honest reactions and emotions." - CM Magazine: Canadian Review of Materials, **** /4 Highly Recommended.

"This full-throttle novel totally nails teenage romance — the dizzying depths of infatuation and the inevitable heartbreak." - Denver Post

"With heartbreaking honesty, Martin's debut novel gets into the mind of 16-year-old Nick Severson...His story challenges stereotypical notions of reckless teen sex and careless abortions; teen boys will especially applaud this portrayal of a devastated and conflicted young man who makes the right decisions, but still finds that his mistakes have repercussions." - School Library Journal

"In this rare book that plumbs a boy's emotional roller coaster when a relationship comes to an end, Martin succinctly captures Nick's ferocious sense of helplessness...When Sasha finally makes a choice, Nick shines—as does this debut." - Chicago Tribune

"The complexities of love lost/regained make for an outstanding selection for older YA readers." - Midwest Book Review

"Every one of the readers will wish they could find someone like Nick to fall in love with. As YA novels go, this one is frank about sex—desire, control, contraception, and the pain when love doesn't work out between two people who truly care for one another. The details of the pregnancy, telling parents and close friends, the decision to have an abortion, the abortion itself and the aftermath—. Martin doesn't shy away from anything." - KLIATT