I Don't Live Here Anymore

Gr 9 Up—Set in Austria, this coming-of-age novel is similar in tone and subject matter to Sarah Dessen's young adult works about growing up amid difficult family and social dynamics. Fifteen-year-old Charlotte is uprooted from her childhood home with her two younger brothers when their mother discovers their father's infidelity. Charlotte experiences grief over the move and the ensuing divorce at the same time as she's falling in love with a new boy at school, Carlo, with whom she has her first sexual experience. Charlotte is also having trouble keeping up with her school work. While this title is a fast and easy read and the character of Charlotte is well developed, it's hard to see other characters as real people, like her mother and father or a mean girl at school, Hanna. They appear in the novel in short bursts and then disappear from the scene just as quickly. Readers will find that this slim novel doesn't fully take advantage of its characters. Feeling like more of a highlight reel of events, this narrative misses an opportunity by not presenting more of Charlotte's relationship with Carlo and her family members.