Stepping Off

$29.99
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UPC:
9781339023175

Product Description

Jesse Dienstag's favourite sweatshirt says, 'The real world isn't real.' That's the slogan of the vacation-home community in Pennsylvania where his family has always spent every vacation and weekend for as long as he can remember. In the summer of 2019, as Jesse is about to enter his junior year of high school in New York City, he desperately wants to believe the slogan is true. For one thing, the two girls he loves —equally and desperately—are in Pennsylvania and all the stresses and pressures of his daily life and school are in New York. But when his parents stop talking to each other, it gets harder and harder for Jesse to maintain his dream life in Pennsylvania. And when COVID shuts New York City down in March 2020 just days after Jesse’s mother leaves his father, Jesse's worlds collide.

Other Details

Author:
Jordan Sonnenblick
Review Month:
October 2024

Reviews

  • 4
    family breakdown, friendship, grief, young love, emotional growth, pandemic, crush, loss

    Posted by Novel Insight Reviews on 15th Oct 2024

    16-year-old Jesse is staying at his holiday house in Tall Pines Landing, Pennsylvania, for the summer with his best friends, Chloe and Ava. Jesse's dad, Martin, arrives at Tall Pines Landing without their mother, Stephanie. He informs Jesse and his sister, Leah, that their mother cancelled their Europe trip and mysteriously left. He doesn't know where she's gone and is very worried. Soon Ava learns that her mother has died and has to attend her funeral in Florida. As Jesse, Chloe, and Ava navigate their feelings for each other, their changing family dynamics, and a mysterious virus that is spreading across the globe, all of them must face difficult truths they aren't expecting. An enjoyable story of navigating young love, family breakdown, and a pandemic.