One Lonely Degree

This book was so real. The characters felt like they would jump out of the page. A great book about best friend relationships. I'd recommend to Sarah Dessen and Elizabeth Scott fans for sure. :)

i thought this book was really good i wasnt really impressed with the ending though.

For fifteen year old Finn, the world seems like it's crashing down. For one thing, her family's falling apart. And on top of that, there's that thing with Adam Porter that happened at the Party and it continues to haunt her. Only one person knows about it and that's Audrey, Finn's best friend. But when Finn's childhood friend, Jersey, comes to town and things between him and Audrey begin to heat up, well, things begin to change.

When summer rolls around, Audrey's parents go off, with Audrey in tow, on vacation, leaving Finn to spend her summer without her confidante. But as life continues to get harder on Finn, she finds herself hanging out more and more with Jersy. Everything with him is perfect, except for one small issue. Can Finn really do something so horrible to Audrey?

Having read I Know It's Over, I had high expectations for One Lonely Degree. I have to say, One Lonely Degree panned out very differently than the way I'd expected it to be.

Finn, who wants to be a graphic designer and move to London or New York, is easy to relate to. She shares the type of dreams that many teens do, likes similar music and has a unique way of looking at things that really struck a chord with me. Watching her watch her family life disintegrate was painful to read about and her reactions were realistic. It was easy to feel her desperation and her anger.

Audrey and Finn's friendship was also portrayed very well. I hate it how in some books things like that are just stated and never really shown. In One Lonely Degree, the depth of their bond is evident and it makes Finn's horror at what happens during the summer more palpable.

Jersy, on the other hand, kind of conflicted with me. For one, he was going out seriously with Audrey and then after she was gone, he tries to get together with Finn. In my opinion, that would make him the lowest of the low. But then Jersy also had his own problems, he was never really a jerk and CK Kelly Martin did make it seem like the thing between Jersy and Audrey was basically over when Audrey went away for the summer. I guess, overall, Jersy is just like any of us. Someone who makes mistakes, just like Finn.

The way that the story is told is different from I Know It's Over. In I Know It's Over, there were clear events which marked risings and fallings of tension. In One Lonely Degree, it seemed sort of passive. Instead it was more of a recounting of a period in Finn's life. While this caused One Lonely Degree to not be as engrossing as CK Kelly Martin's first novel, One Lonely Degree is decent and entertaining read that many teens will be able to relate to.