Jersey Angel

Starred review from March 19, 2012
Bauman (Rosie and Skate) returns to the Jersey shore for her second YA novel, an acutely intimate portrait of a girl’s efforts to better understand herself and her relationships. The summer before her senior year, Angel Cassonetti is enjoying her freedom. Her family owns three houses on the shore, two of which they rent out to the tourist “bennies” who swarm the area every summer. Angel spends her days hanging out with friends and her half-siblings and working at her father’s marina gas station. Nights, she bikes over to her ex Joey’s window, trying to get back with him after she’s rebuffed him one too many times. While her best friend Inggy goes on college tours, Angel, whose sexual self-confidence contrasts with her insecurity about her future, has a steamy fling with Inggy’s boyfriend, Cork. “It won’t count,” she tells him after they have sex for the first time, during a boating trip. “I want it to count,” he replies. One can almost smell salt and sunscreen in the air in this soulful and insightful coming-of-age story. Ages 14–up. Agent: Tina Bennett, Janklow & Nesbit.

July 30, 2012
It’s the summer before her senior year and 17-year-old Angel—who lives on a New Jersey resort island—finds herself contemplating life, comparing herself to her overachieving and beautiful best friend, trying to win back her ex-boyfriend, hooking up with other boys, and learning to keep secrets. In this audio edition, Jaclyn Gaines forgoes a strong New Jersey accent—except in the dialogue of a minor character or two—and turns in fun, engaging performance. She lends Angel a youthful voice that’s perfect for the teenage girl. At times, Gaines could do more to distinguish between the book’s other characters—some of the voices she creates are indistinguishable during dialogue. Still, Gaines’s narration has momentum, and listeners will surely stick around until the end, wondering what the future holds for Angel. Ages 14–up. A Wendy Lamb hardcover.