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Paperback Details
  • 05/2019
  • 9781732527546
  • 388 pages
  • $9.99
Beth Andrews
Author
Counting Flowers
Beth Andrews, author
At seventeen, Natalie Hewitt has her future mapped out. Graduate top of her class, get into an Ivy League School and along the way be a top athlete, the perfect daughter, and nice to everyone. It’s not easy living up to the pressure she puts on herself. Sometimes she feels overwhelmed with anxiety. So she has her quirks, like counting the flowers on her wall, to help her focus, help her get calm. Lately, it’s taking so much effort—and more counting—to meet those expectations. Nothing is the way it used to be. Her best friend is drifting away. Her brother is in trouble again. And her boyfriend Phillip is convinced there’s something going on between her and Owen Radlowski. That’s so not true. Owen is just a guy she tutors. A friend. Nothing more. And yet…she can’t stop thinking about him. He gets her—even the counting—and doesn’t ask for too much from her. Still, Owen is not Philip, which makes him the wrong guy for her. He has no place in her future plans. As her carefully arranged life unravels, her quirks don’t work the way they should, and Natalie has to face what is real. And learn to accept it might not be what she thinks it should be.
Reviews
Seventeen-year-old Natalie’s “harmless little quirks” calm and control her anxiety. She constantly makes lists and counts things, especially the 83 flowers her mother painted on her bedroom wall. Who wouldn’t be anxious when family standards include striving for perfection? First in her senior class at Pittsburgh’s West Brook Academy, she plans to attend Ivy League Penn, and her boyfriend is a popular soccer player. Her perfect life is barely under control, however: “All I know is that there’s this knot is my chest, strands of worry and guilt and anger looped around and around.” Then Natalie begins tutoring Owen—her family’s landscaper and a senior on hockey scholarship—who is “badass and silent” to her “friendly, sweet, and chatty.” Desperate to keep the status quo, she pushes Owen away despite her attraction. A revelation about her older brother Chase’s dangerous secrets and lies sends Natalie’s anxiety levels even higher, resulting in a crisis that makes her reconsider her mental health. Sharply written with keen dialogue and palpable sexual tension, Andrews’s novel allows readers to engage with Natalie’s every thought, doubt, and struggle. It’s a passionate story that explores the divide between lofty and unhealthy goals. Ages 14–up. (BookLife)
Formats
Paperback Details
  • 05/2019
  • 9781732527546
  • 388 pages
  • $9.99
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