Rules for 50/50 Chances

Gr 9 Up—Rose has been dealing with her mother's Huntington's disease diagnosis since she was 12, and now that she looks toward college and adult life, she wonders if she will suffer the same fate. When she turns 18, she is legally allowed to take the genetic test that will give her an answer, which she thinks she needs in order to decide what choices to make about a career and family. Meeting Caleb at an event to raise money for genetic research throws a wrench in her thought process, as he lives with no fear of developing the sickle-cell disease that torments his sisters and mother. As they fall in love, Caleb shows Rose that life is about taking risks and following passions and that a test result that clears her of risk wouldn't promise safety or happiness, while one that predicted a painful degeneration would stop the indecisive Rose in her tracks. This evenly paced story is a balance between Rose and Caleb's romance and Rose's difficulties with her family, including her mother's often frustrating symptoms. Caleb is the most interesting of the characters, with a unique history and a more developed personality than the others. While this doesn't stand out from other titles about teens dealing with family illness or interracial relationships, the focus on Rose's indecisiveness and fears should appeal to fans of Gayle Forman's If I Stay (Dutton, 2009) and Lauren Oliver's Before I Fall (HarperCollins, 2010).