"Lemon" by Cordelia Strube

Lemon is not your average teenager. She has three mothers, a deadbeat dad, a protege stricken with cancer, two outcast friends and one tree hugging stepbrother. She doesn't care what others her age are doing, she would rather read the Classics. And while everyone else around her is obsessed with getting high and having sex, she's just trying to get to the end of high school without having to deal with any of that nonsense. But it's not going to be easy.


Lemon is a smart and funny book. While this is definitely not a young adult book, the voice of Lemon is authentically teen and authentically annoyed at the world around her. Like many teens she is full of conflict, but unlike the others around her she shows a deep understanding for the pain and conflict that exists in our world. But in her attempts to be as little like her peers as she can, it turns out that Lemon is not immune from teenage angst and misery.


The language in this book is strong. Written in a teenage voice, it does use foul and sexual language. There are a couple of points in the book involving sex that are graphic but they are honest portrayals of some of the dangers that face teenagers today. This is definitely not a happy book but some of Lemon's comments on life will make you smile. This isn't the type of book I would usually pick up but I definitely enjoyed it and could relate to a lot of Lemon's observations.

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