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| Book | Searching... Cabell County Public Library | CON | Young Adult | Searching... Unknown |
| Book | Searching... Logan Area Public Library | CON | Young Adult | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
"An eerily beautiful and lyrical story of loss, grief, and how quickly relationships can change, while also changing us." --Robin Benway, National Book Award winner and bestselling author of Far From The Tree and A Year to the Day
"Fast-paced, unputdownable, and full of heart and complicated emotions. An unforgettable story." --Yamile Saied Méndez, Pura Belpré Award-winning author of Furia , a Reese's Book Club selection
What would you do if everyone you love disappeared? What if it was your fault?
For July Fielding, nothing has been the same since that summer before senior year.
Once, she had Alex, her loyal best friend, the one who always had her back. She had Sydney, who pushed her during every cross-country run, and who sometimes seemed to know July better than she knew herself. And she had Sam. Sam, who told her she was everything and left her breathless with his touch.
Now, July is alone. Every single person in her small town of Lithia has disappeared. No family. No Alex or Sydney. No Sam. July's only chance at unraveling the mystery of their disappearance is a series of objects, each a reminder of the people she loved most. And a mysterious message: GET TH3M BACK.
From the #1 bestselling author of the Matched series, The Only Girl in Town is a searingly candid reckoning with both love and loneliness that perfectly distills the messy, beautiful realities of growing up, growing apart, and the courageous act of self-discovery.
Author Notes
Ally Condie received a degree from Brigham Young University and worked as a high school English teacher. She is currently a full-time author. Her books include Freshman for President, Being Sixteen, and the Matched Trilogy. In 2014 her title, Atlantia made The New York Times Best Seller List.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
One summer day, rising high school senior July Fielding is walking back to her car from an afternoon at Fall Creek when she has the sudden realization that she's all alone--not just in the woods, but in her town as well. Her family isn't at home, no one is answering her texts, and when she tries to leave town, an invisible barrier prevents her from crossing city limits. As July frantically tries to uncover who or what is leaving her mysterious "GET THEM BACK" messages and determine where everyone went, alternating sections titled "Once" and "Now" chart her life before and after her loved ones' disappearances. But as July delves deeper into the current mystery, memories of previous drama begin to unfurl, blurring the line between past and present. Liminal-feeling therapy session interstitials provide glimpses into July's struggles with her mental health. July's raw and sometimes unreliable narration amps up the suspense in this cleverly rendered speculative read by Condie (The Last Voyage of Poe Blythe), who ruminates on issues of anxiety and depression in a way that feels at once fresh and grounded. Characters read as white. Ages 12--up. Agent: Jodi Reamer, Writers House. (Sept.)
Kirkus Review
A teenage girl finds herself alone after everyone else in her town mysteriously disappears, leaving her scrambling to figure out how to find them all. One late summer day, everybody in July Fielding's town disappears. She is left to piece together what happened, following a series of cryptic signs she finds around town urging her to "GET THEM BACK." The narrative moves back and forth between July's present and the events of the summer before, when her relationship with her best friend, cross-country team co-captain Sydney, starts to fracture due to a combination of jealousy over July's new relationship with a cute boy called Sam and sweet up-and-coming freshman Ella's threatening to overtake Syd's status as star of the track team. The team members participate in a ritual in which they jump off a cliff into the rocky waters below at the end of their Friday practice runs. Though Ella is reluctant, Syd pressures her to jump. Short, frenetically paced sections move the story along quickly, and there is much foreshadowing pointing to something terrible that occurred at the end of that summer, which may be the key to July's current predicament, but there is much misdirection too. Ultimately this is a story without enough setup to make the turn the book takes in the end feel fully developed or earned. All characters read white. A high-concept premise that falls short in its execution. (Fiction. 14-18) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Suddenly faced with being the only living soul left in her small town, teen cross-country runner July is determined to get her loved ones back and figure out the meaning--and person--behind the strange messages she's finding in unlikely places. With only her cat for company in the present, July shares her story in alternating time lines of before and after everyone went missing, leading to a surprise ending that brings out themes of loyalty and doing the right thing. With limited characters for July to interact with, the pace is maintained through the driving question of "What happened?" This question applies both to the mysterious disappearances and to July herself, who repeatedly alludes to events in her many relationships, without specifics, until her story draws to a close. A novel that sometimes dips into verse, The Only Girl in Town may appeal to fans of the classic Z for Zachariah and Virginia Bergin's H2O.High-Demand Backstory: Condie is a frequent name on the New York Times best-seller list, and her many fans will be eager for her latest book.
