The narrative’s romance is chaste, and it tempers the intensity brought to the story by the threats of guards, fellow inmates, and outside criminals. He insists that he is innocent of killing his favorite teacher but guilty of killing a fellow student in self-defense, keeping readers teetering between a belief that the punishment is justified and cheering Smoke on to fight for freedom. Smoke’s vivid present-tense narration is filtered according to his concerns. On one such errand, he discovers that a young waitress at a seedy dive can actually see him. Smoke keeps his physical body protected on the inside thanks to the balance of favors earned outside his body.
His uncanny ability evidently triggered by the beating, Smoke exists inside and outside the fictional Greater Denver Youth Offender Rehabilitation Center (unrealistically represented as a maximum security prison). John “Smoke” Conlan has survived a brutal beating from his father, a murder conviction, and prison life. Leaving his actual body behind in prison, Smoke can move through the world as a ghost in this fantastic yet real portrait of a survivor seeking answers. The conclusion ties up the plot strands from all three stories, with all the main characters enjoying coffee at Starbucks on Christmas night.Ĭontemporary culture, humorous romantic developments and strong characters enhance this collaborative effort. Myracle contributes “The Patron Saint of Pigs,” about a local girl named Addie who has just broken up with her boyfriend. Green’s offering is “A Cheertastic Christmas Miracle,” narrated by Tobin, who struggles with his buddies through the snow so they can meet 14 stranded cheerleaders. In Johnson’s “The Jubilee Express,” a 16-year-old passenger named Jubilee meets Stuart, who takes her home to his family and convinces her that she needs a better boyfriend than the one she left at home. Three top authors of teen fiction join forces for a collection of linked novellas set in the same small town in North Carolina on Christmas Eve.ĭuring the worst blizzard in 50 years, a packed train gets stuck in the snow, and teens from the train interact with teens from the town in ways both hilarious and romantic.
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