Torn by Stephanie Guerra

Summary:

Stella Chavez is your classic good girl: straight A's, clean-cut boyfriends, and soccer trophies. You'd never guess that Stella's dad was a drug addict who walked out when she was a kid Or that inside, Stella wishes for something more.New girl Ruby Caroline seems like Stella's polar opposite: cursing, smoking, and teetering in sky-high heels. But with Ruby, Stella gets a taste of another world, a world in which parents act like roommates, college men are way more interesting than high school boys, and there is nothing that shouldn't be tried once. It's not long before Stella finds herself torn: between the best friend she's ever had and the friends she's known forever, between her family and her own independence, between who she was and who she wants to be. But Ruby has a darker side, a side she doesn't show anyone, not even Stella. As Stella watches her friend slowly unravel, she will have to search deep inside herself for the strength to be a true friend, even if it means committing the ultimate betrayal.

Reviewer: Fashionta
This is probably the first Realistic Fiction in the YA genre that I've had to review for the blog. Torn is about Stella who seems to have it all until she's challenged to rethink things by the new girl Ruby. Stella is the classic good girl, the glue in her family, she looks after her brother and sister and helps out her family in any way since her drug-addicted dad left when she was kid. Ruby is anti–Stella she into drugs, she's considered a slut and she hangs out with college boys. Stella is left with a hard decision, go with the friends she has known all her life or become a rebel like Ruby.

Finally a book where the characters are ones we can relate to and the way the author deals with the teenage drama in here is commendable. In the past drugs has been given a bit of glamour as well as sex with books like the Gossip Girls which deals with the rich spoiled teenagers of New York. In this one we need to read with an open mind and remember this actually happens in today's society and that we could be the girl in this story. Also, the classic good girl gone bad cliché is played out in this book but it more realistic, adding the element that seems to be missing in those other stories we see in films so often.

This is the author's debut and I think YA lovers of Realistic Fiction will enjoy this one. I would recommended this book to any YA lover who wants to get away from sequels to existing series that also coming out this month in YA genre. This is a hidden gem and a great debut novel, I look forward to reading more of her stories. 3.5 stars.

Publisher: Marshall Cavendish
Review Courtesy Of: NetGalley