What Ever Happened to Goodbye

YA FIC DES

Following her parents' bitter divorce as she and her father move from town to town, seventeen-year-old Mclean reinvents herself at each school she attends until she is no longer sure she knows who she is or where she belongs.

Mclean’s parents divorced two years ago after her mother’s extra-marital affair. She now travels from town to town with her father as he takes on manager positions at different restaurants. In each town, Mclean not only changes her name, but transforms herself into an entirely different personality. She’s been a drama queen, an over-achieving honors student, and a varsity jock. Finally in Lakeview, after meeting Dave, she suddenly starts using her real name, putting down roots, making friends, and tries to be someone she’s never been before: herself.

“The strangest thing about all of that was that, before, in my old life, I hadn’t been any of these things; not a student leader or an actress or an athlete. There, I was just average, normal, unremarkable. Just Mclean.”

But who is she now?

Ship Breaker

YA FIC BAC

Would you sell a stranger's arm for a chance to live or just to eat? In the future, natural resources and fossil fuels are depleted, water levels have risen and a popular currency is body parts. Nailer, a young teen, lives with his drug-addicted and dangerous father who would easily sell off his son in pieces for the right offer. To make even starvation wages, Nailer must work strenuous hours stripping old oil tankers of precious copper, steel and any leftover oil deposits. He’s a ship breaker.

 One day, a “city killer“ storm blows in and a clipper ship is beached on the nearby shore. This isn’t just any shipwreck, it’s a valuable shipwreck, a “Lucky Strike” and Nailer and his friend Pima are the first to discover it. Nailer and Pima know that just a handful of what’s on the ship can help them start brand new lives, they’ll never had to break a ship again. However, silver, gold and china aren’t the only valuable thing on the ship. They also find, Nita, a young and beautiful survivor. She promises them a privileged life if they help her. Nailer must now decide whether to help Nita or help himself. Should Nailer trust her? Or should he do as his father would do, which is slit her throat and sell off her body parts?