All We Could Have Been

Gr 9 Up—After a horrible tragedy thrusts Lexi Stewart into a harsh national spotlight, she constantly moves from place to place, staying with different family members and changing her name to avoid the public eye and the judgment of her peers. As long as no one around her knows who she really is, she is safe to blend into the crowd and disappear. When she starts her senior year, however, she begins to realize that she is growing close to the people around her, and she must decide if she wants to keep herself at a distance or finally let her friends into her life. Though Lexi's search for control and safety is conscientiously realized, the people around her are one-dimensional, particularly her classmates at school. The love story at the heart of the book is underwhelming and superfluous, though there is a refreshing and nuanced representation of asexuality within Lexi's friend group. Overall, Lexi's motivations and decisions are unconvincing and her peers remain flat and underdeveloped.