Every Last Promise

After a huge beginning-of-summer party ended with a fatal car accident, Kayla spent the summer away from her small-town home, living with her aunt and trying to forget the events that led up to the tragedy. Kayla hasn’t told anyone why she was driving that car. And she hasn’t told anyone what she saw immediately before. Now she just wants to belong back in her own life, and if that means keeping quiet about what she saw, then so be it. But Kayla also can’t forget that her silence is causing pain for a former best friend, and maybe worse for others in the future. If she tells her secret, she may lose everything—is it worth it?

Kristin Halbrook explores an intense topic in her new young adult novel. Rape is a scary reality, and the consequences are devastating—and all the more so when the crime goes unreported. Kayla’s struggle with whether or not to talk about what she saw will resonate directly with some teens, while other readers will simply appreciate hearing her inner monologues and bearing witness to the tempestuous emotions that continue to rock her life months after the party. Well-written and full of realistic conflicts, Every Last Promise is an absorbing novel that will be enjoyed by readers of all ages.