{Contains Spoilers}
{Synopsis} – Flattered by the attentions of Nick, the cutest guy in school, seventeen-year-old Grace Warren, captain of the math team, lets down her guard and gets pregnant the night she loses her virginity. Hopeful that Nick will drop to one knee and propose when she breaks the baby news to him, Grace is heartbroken – Nick wants nothing to do with her. Her best friend, Jennifer, thinks she should get an abortion, but Grace is certain that her morally upright parents will insist that she keep the baby. After she comes clean to her super-religious, strait-laced parents, they surprise her by insisting that she terminate the pregnancy to avoid humiliating the family. But when she sees the fetus on the ultrasound, she decides she can't get rid of it. Deciding to save the tiny life growing inside of her, Grace must face the consequences of being that girl – the good girl who got knocked up.
{My Thoughts} – The perfect description of Grace is best left to the one her best friend Jennifer says near the end of the book. “You were every parent’s wet dream…up until the moment you weren’t. You’re beautiful, you’re a fucking genius, you have perfect manners, excellent taste in shoes, and you help old people cross the street. Until you blacked out and let Private Prick plant his flag in your brave new world, you were like the Hope Diamond.” This is a description she uses when trying to tell Grace that she is more then she thinks she is and that what her parents think about her is truly not important that this point in her life.
The thing is that it does matter what your family and your parents think about you in situations like this. Grace was 17 and pregnant. She used protection, she had sex, and then a baby was made. It’s not that she was trying to make a baby, which I am aware many teenagers do, but she was just trying to be like all the other kids in her school. She was hyped up on that fact that a good looking guy liked her, that someone was paying attention to someone like her – a geek, a girl more interested in grades and staying a virgin, then going out partying and dating.
The boy that got her virginity would be Nick and in all aspects of the book he stays true to himself, his attitude doesn’t change and he still thinks he is better then his errors. Although, I don’t consider him getting a girl pregnant much of an error since he had been sleeping around so much, its amazing it only happened once and there weren’t other mini-Nicks out there. Enough about him though, I didn’t care for him one bit.
Grace gets pregnant at 17. She has the baby shortly before her 18th birthday. I can relate. I got pregnant at 16 and had my son a few months after my 17th birthday. Grace suffered through school for as long as she could handle it and then did home schooling. I went to an alternative school until after my baby was born. I attempted to do afternoon classes at the High School, but like Grace I couldn’t handle all the rude comments. I couldn’t handle the way people acted. I dropped the afternoon High School program and stuck with the alternative school.
Grace’s babydaddy Nick was a loss cause. He made it clear he didn’t want anything to do with the baby. Her parents threw her out of the house, she was told abortion was her only option. Her mother even tried to make her get one, but she couldn’t go through with it. My boyfriend at the time was very active in the pregnancy, I ended up living with him and his parents because my mom threw me out once she found out I was pregnant. There is a lot more to it, but I don’t have a desire to get into it. I never once considered an abortion, but I had been considering the option of adoption. However, in my case the father and his parents wanted the baby so I kept him. I completed High School and I got my diploma all while taking care of my son, I had lots of help with the father and the fathers parents. But like Grace I knew I wasn’t ready to be a parent.
Grace gave her little one up for adoption and I gave my little one to his Grandparents. At that point in my life, I was a mess, I wasn’t stable and I knew I couldn’t take care of him and give him what a baby needed. I was selfish in a way, I wanted my life back. I just wasn’t ready to deal with motherhood and I was being forced into it. It sounds bad, it does but I don’t regret my choices. Like Grace said in the book she has no regrets.
This book really hit home for me, because I personally went through a lot of the same situations. I personally had to deal with what was in the book, reading the book made me laugh, it made me cry, it made me a lot of things. It also made me think about 13 years ago when my son was born. It was one of the hardest things I had ever done in my life, the memories, the moments, the thoughts, the after – all of it is still fresh in my mind. I think that too often when people judge others because of choices that aren’t always the brightest that they should really be judging themselves. I don’t see anything wrong with a teen age girl being pregnant because they made a mistake. I have been there and I know that makes it a little biased – my opinion. But that doesn’t change what it is. I wonder often what those individuals who haven’t had to experience it really think, or what they would do if they were placed in such a situation. It’s not easy to make choices that will not only effect you the rest of your life, but also the baby that you are carrying and about to bring into the world.
I can tell you from experience that no matter how much you think you are making the right choice, you will second guess, third guess and more yourself, because of uncertainty.
This book is an excellent book for teens that have found themselves in a similar situation or just for parents who want their teen to read a book and see what can happen if they aren’t careful. I am sure I will be having my daughter and my sons read this book in the future. This book is informative and it is well written. It drags you into the story and it holds you tight. I almost had the feeling that I was Grace – because I’d been there. Her story is similar to mine, but not exactly the same. I do hope that teenagers in such a situation understand that they are not alone, and just because their parents aren’t accepting, it doesn’t mean it’s over, it just means they need to take a different path in life.
Final Conclusion: 5 Star Rating.
