Harper Evans is 17, and just lost her best friend and stepsister when their parents divorced. Anxious to get away from all the drama and heartache, she volunteers for a summer of community service, building homes in Tennessee, in a town devastated by a tornado. The story alternates between HERE - the summer in Tennessee, and HOME - the story of her family, and how they came together and then apart. It is a difficult summer for Harper, but she reaches out of her comfort zone, and learns a lot about what she wants from life, and what she needs from people.
I really liked this story, and am now anxious to read other books by this author. EVPL has a couple:
Harmless (2007)
When Anna, Emma, and Mariah concoct a story about why they are late getting home one Friday night, their lie has unimaginable consequences for the girls, their families, and the community.
A Brief Chapter in My Impossible Life (2006)
Sixteen-year-old atheist Simone Turner-Bloom's life changes in unexpected ways when her parents convince her to make contact with her biological mother, an agnostic from a Jewish family who is losing her battle with cancer.
Reinhardt's fourth novel, The Things a Brother Knows, is due out this September.
