Keep Holding On

Written by Susane Colasanti, Keep Holding On is a realistic-fiction young adult romance. Keep Holding On is about an average every day teenage girl (how many times have you heard that before?) named Noelle. Noelle's horrible home life often interferes with her school life as she is constantly bullied. The main theme of this book is to think before you act, because you don't know what everyone is going through and to "Keep holding on" and stay strong.

At school, Noelle can do nothing but try to fly below the radar. She considers herself to be the second most bullied kid in school, next to Ali. Noelle is constantly verbally and physically bullied by a couple groups of bullies at her school. She doesn't fight them and just let's herself get beaten up. However, the bullies don't know about her mortifying home life. She lives with only her mom. Her father left when she was young and her wonderful stepfather died of cancer and left nothing for her and her mother to live on. Noelle's mother is constantly complaining about her life and does virtually nothing for her daughter. Noelle is completely neglected. Her only friend, Sherea, who holds a dark secret, and her secret boyfriend, Matt, are the only people she has. But recently, Julian has started talking to her and she starts to fall for him. She doesn't feel like she is good enough for him and just keeps going on with her miserable life. Keep Holding On will keep you going on a steady pace with an extremely shocking twist that changes EVERYONE.

 This book is definitely meant for teens (mostly because anyone younger wouldn't understand) but there isn't anything TOO horrible. There is a little bit of language and some people may feel uncomfortable or sensitive at some scenes. All in all, I thought that this book was pretty good. It is definitely among some of my favorite books. I mean, it was so good, I read it all day and finished it. That's how good it was. This book really keeps you going. You do not want to stop reading. Although some scenes may seem repetitive, they all make sense and add to the story in the end. One thing that keeps you going in this book, is the way the author will kind of hint that something happened, but doesn't just come out and say it until later, so you are sitting there wondering if what you think happened really happened. For example, at one part Noelle says, "Sherea still has nightmares" and Sherea says later, "Maybe I should have told someone about it." Also, my absolute favorite part in this book is that I was just reading this one basic chapter. It was nothing special. And then the very next page, I got punched in the stomach with a suprise that I did not expect at all. (can't tell you what it is, sorry!)

In conclusion, I thought that Keep Holding On was a very good book. I would defintely recomend it to others. It was very interesting and entertaining. I really loved the moral of the story, which was to "Keep holding on" and don't give up no matter how hard things get. I love this book and I give it a solid A.