The Tension of Opposites

May 3, 2010
Two years after the abduction of her best friend Noelle, sophomore Tessa has changed her entire life, isolating herself from friends and avoiding dating. So when Noelle miraculously returns, having found a way to have her kidnapper arrested, Tessa hopes to pick up where they left off and do all she can to ease Noelle’s return to their hometown. But Noelle now goes by Elle, and she doesn’t want Tessa’s help. Meanwhile, Max, a boy in Tessa’s photography class who she can’t help falling for, can’t stand to see Tessa keep putting Elle ahead of herself. Tessa’s pain is realistically drawn, and her recovery—which still pales with what Elle has to deal with—is authentic and hard-won; debut author McBride effectively uses Tessa’s love of photography as an expression of her growth. Tessa’s concern for what she sees as poor choices on Elle’s part (such as throwing herself into a relationship with an obnoxious football player), as well as her questions about Elle’s captivity create true tension in a well-paced story with some emotional punches that really connect. Ages 14–up.