Turtles All the Way Down

Aza Holmes lives with the demons of her invasive, paranoid thoughts. Most of the time she can stay above the fray, but sometimes not. Her best friend, Daisy, convinces Aza they should visit Davis, son of a missing billionaire and an old friend of Aza’s, so they can get clues to find him and earn a ten-thousand-dollar reward to pay for college. They not only find Davis, but his little brother, Noah, who both really miss their larcenous father. It never occurs to Aza she might just fall in love with Davis, and in doing so, endanger herself and those around her.

John Green has written a deeply affecting story of a young woman in the throes of a debilitating mental illness. This is a cautionary tale filled with believable, endearing characters, a nice mystery, and perhaps the best sidekick/BFF in all of YA literature. No one has an easy time in this book, and that is what makes it very real. Teen life is hard. The writing, as we have come to expect from John Green, is spectacular. Readers will be challenged and left with serious questions to consider about the lives they lead.