Elevator Pitch: Ani FaNelli has a secret, but she’s not going to let that stop her from getting the life of luxury she wants. She’s going to marry a blue blooded New Yorker, continue working at a glamorous women’s magazine, carry designer handbags, and make you so jealous of her perfect life that you’ll want to weep. But what if her past collides with her present?

My Tagline: Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson meets Sex and the City 

Genre: I’m going to call it contemporary fiction. I found it on a psychological thriller list, and I don’t think that’s a good fit. It’s definitely not cotton candy, either. So let’s just call it fiction.

My Opinion: It’s hard to find novels that deal responsibly and authentically with issues surrounding consent. I love that Knoll isn’t afraid to write a character who is angry, oftentimes unlikable, and brutally honest with readers about who she is (even if she isn’t honest with anyone else in her life).

While it isn’t a YA novel, I think it gets at important issues in ways that are more complex, more nuanced, and more mature than you might find in YA lit. It would pair well with Speak.

Verdict: Buy it. You’ll want to give it to someone else in your life,  preferably a mature young adult reader.