Spotlight on Knee Deep by Jolene Perry

ebook

Published May 1, 2012

Tribute Books

Find it on Amazon

Shawn is the guy Ronnie Bird promised her life to at the age of fourteen. He's her soul mate. He's more uptight every day, but it's not his fault. His family life is stressful, and she's adding to it. She just needs to be more understanding, and he'll start to be the boy she fell in love with. She won’t give up on someone she’s loved for so long.

Luke is her best friend, and the guy she hangs with to watch girlie movies in her large blanketopias. He's the guy she can confide in before she even goes to her girlfriends, and the guy who she's playing opposite in Romeo and Juliet. Now her chest flutters every time he gets too close. This is new. Is Ronnie falling for him? Or is Juliet? The lines are getting blurry, but leaving one guy for another is not something that a girl like Ronnie does.

Shawn’s outbursts are starting to give her bruises, and Luke’s heart breaks as Ronnie remains torn. While her thoughts and feelings swirl around the lines between friendship and forever, she’s about to lose them both.

Wow! This is one powerful book. Seriously, this tore at my heartstrings. I felt so deeply for Ronnie, and I think every teenage girl needs to read her story. When we first meet Ronnie, she's madly in love with Shawn. She's loved him for years and thinks he is her forever. Her best friend, Mindy, doesn't get it though. She thinks Ronnie is too young to feel so strongly for someone, and maybe more so because it's Shawn. Mindy isn't his biggest fan, and tries to convince Ronnie that there's a reason Ronnie and Shawn haven't taken their relationship to the next level. Ronnie knows that reason is her. She's not ready. But she can't figure out why.

Shawn's family life is falling apart, and he's changing. Ronnie sees less and less of the guy she fell in love with. On the other hand, her best friend Luke is looking more and more like someone she could really fall for. This love triangle is portrayed in such a realistic way. Honestly, I didn't know how the three were going to end up, and that was a good thing. Jolene kept me guessing till the very end.

Without giving away spoilers, let me say this book dives into some heavy issues that teen girls need to be aware of. I can see this book helping a lot of girls who may think love makes everything okay. Ronnie learns the hard way that it doesn't. There are things love can't excuse.

So powerful. Seriously, go read this one.

Author website | Blog | Goodreads | Twitter | Facebook

Mini-view with Jolene Perry

How old were you when you fell in love for the first time?

Sixteen. And I fell hard because he was the boy I grew up loving, and he moved away, and came back, and wanted ME.

Rebel or boy next door?

The rebel who lived next door. And I use the term "next door" loosely, since I grew up in Alaska and everyone in our "neighborbood" owned 5 acres or more. He lived a quarter mile away and I snuck out to visit him a LOT.

Luke likes to wear shirts with cartoon characters on them. If you were a cartoon character, who would you be?

I'd want to be the female version of Phineas. That's who I'd WANT to be. I'm in agreement with John Green on this one in that Phineas and Ferb is the best show on TV for children and adults.