Steph Bowe (1994–2020)

Representation: N/A
Trigger warnings: Gun violence, surgery
Score: Six and a half points out of ten.
Update: I have received information from this source that the author has passed away. May she rest in peace. This review can also be found on rel="nofollow" target="_top">The StoryGraph.

So. I wanted to read this for a while ever since I added this book to my to-read pile, and not long after, I finally read this story when I picked it up from one of the two libraries I regularly go to since this novel is the only one they have from Steph Bowe. That book was only okay, and since the library does not have any more books from her, I don't know if her other books are better than this. It starts with the main character, Nina Pretty, or Nina for short, and she has one characteristic that separates her from other characters: her family is criminal. Then, the book switches to another POV from Spencer, and he also has a particular attribute: he has a missing toe, but her mother hides that to avoid bullying or something like that. Nina has moved to a new town and school to escape the police, but she is frustrated with that, and she wants a friend that can last, in the form of Spencer. A few pages later, Nina and Spencer develop an attraction to one another, discussing trivialities and doing other wacky acts stretching across the middle of the book, slowing its pace. That all leads to the ending, and let me tell you, it is bittersweet and heartbreaking. That is it.… (more)

"Tras conocer a Jewel en el lago, la vida de Sasha cambiará para siempre...
Una historia sobre el verdadero amor, el poder de la amistad y los enanitos que habitan todos los jardines."

La chica del lago es un libro realista, lleno de esa esperanza que lucha contra toda tragedia. Cada capítulo te hace reflexionar de temas de actualidad como por ejemplo la anorexia o el cáncer.
Los personajes son maduros y entrañables ya que cada uno tiene sus rarezas. Yo me encariñado con ellos, sobre todo con Sacha por esa 'afición' suya y con Jewel y que su único propósito en la vida es ser una vagabunda de una gran ciudad como Nueva York o Londres.

Recomendado.… (more)

All This Could End begins near the end. It's December, Nina's balaclava-wearing family are robbing a bank, and Nina is holding a gun to the head of a boy she knows.
Then it jumps to back to the previous April, filling in the gaps, working its way towards that ending.

Nina can't wait to turn 18 and escape her bank robbing parents and their constantly-on-the-move lifestyle. But with over four hundred days to go, she knows they will leave this new town before she is free.
And so her relationship with Spencer, a quiet boy who loves strange and interesting words, and who has family dramas of his own to contend with, has an expiry date. One she can't tell him about.

I'm not sure I like the town's undescribed, could-be-almost-anywhere feel, but that's just a stylistic choice - the generic blandness of the setting doesn't pervade the rest of the story, which is tense, well-written and original. Bowe writes unconventional, believable teenage characters and recognises the importance - and influence - of family to these teenagers. The romance is secondary, mostly unfolding between one chapter and the next.
She is also particularly good at capturing their thoughts, their world view.

I enjoyed this more than her Bowe's first novel - Girl Saves Boy.

Spencer is wondering how Nina will fit into his vision of their school as a galaxy, with each big personality-person as a planet and their group of friends orbiting them as moons. Bridie is a planet without any moons - she just randomly pulls people in. And Spencer is Pluto. Spencer is more far-flung than Pluto. Spencer is space junk. Nobody wants to orbit space junk.… (more)