Dangerous Lies

Gr 9 Up—Stella Gordon isn't her real name, she's not from Tennessee, and her parents aren't dead, but to everyone in Thunder Basin, NE, that's her story. As part of the Witness Protection Program, Stella has to spend her summer incognito in the middle of nowhere with a retired cop. She's impatiently awaiting her upcoming 18th birthday, hoping to rejoin her boyfriend. Both witnessed a murder and have sworn to testify against the member of a powerful drug cartel. With their lives in constant danger, they are being kept separated and warned against any attempts at communication. Stella is finding it hard to adjust to small-town life under the watchful eye of her strict guardian. To escape the boredom, she takes a job at a local restaurant and spends her free time flirting with the handsome Chet Falconer. But when flirting leads to serious attraction, Stella finds herself questioning her choices and her future. From an unlikely source, she discovers the lie she's living now may be nothing compared to the lie she was unwittingly living before, and in her desperation, she makes one crucial mistake that could prove fatal. Each of the main characters is harboring a secret that will keep readers guessing to the end, but what should be the tension-building specter of ever-present danger gets lost amid quaint descriptions of rural living and Stella's repeated (failed) attempts at loyalty to her boyfriend.