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Anyone But You
"Family, it turned out, was something you really could choose for yourself." Seattle should know. Critter and Jesse have been close to Sea since her dad moved in with their mother. Closer still since he took off six years ago and Layla decided to raise Sea as one of her own. It's a decision none of them regrets, especially not Critter. He's more than a brother—he's Seattle's best friend. Now it's vacation, and Seattle and Critter are stoop sitters, at least until summer school starts in July. It beats working like Jesse, or worse, studying like Layla wants them to. It's too hot for Seattle to be on her skateboard—too hot, even, for Critter to be scamming on girls. But Sea comes up with a plan for them to bluff their way into the ritzy swimming pool the next town over. Big mistake. Soon Critter's got his heart set on a Penn Acres princess, while Seattle's trying hard not to fall for a skater boy on the rebound. For the first time in a long while, they can talk to anyone but each other. Then Seattle's dad shows up unexpectedly, and the way of life Critter and Seattle have always known begins to change even more. . . .
A 2008 YALSA Popular Paperbacks Selection Praise for Anyone But You: "Pitch-perfect narration." - Kirkus Reviews "Zeises examines the volatile nature of relationships within the family, providing a fresh perspective in part because of the unconventional nature of this family's structure. Allowing Critter and Seattle each to serve as narrators also adds complexity to the story and to its telling. The main characters are fully fleshed and exhibit many of the ambivalent emotions typical of adolescents struggling with school and love and class and family. … Mature readers … will come away with the understanding that there is, indeed, hope as they continue to struggle to make their family ties strong." - VOYA (4Q, 4P) "Readers will appreciate that the author does not push for any easy resolutions … In the end, Zeises (Contents Under Pressure) presents a sophisticated novel about family, love and growing up." - Publisher's Weekly "Zeises manages family relationships with acute precision, as she did in her previous novel, the highly praised Contents Under Pressure. This is an unusual family, and Zeises faces the emotional storms head on." - KLIATT "Zeises alternates seamlessly between Seattle's and Critter's voices. The emotions are complex yet heartfelt, and Zeises bangs the teens' feelings up against each other with expert ease." - Romantic Times Book Club "Readers grades nine and up will be magnetized by this powerful, impetuous girl (Seattle)." - Children's & Teen Librarian "[The characters have] got bite and sass, not to mention some interesting fashion sense." - Young Adult Books Central "Alternating Sea's voice with Critter's, Lara Zeises gives her characters a touching authenticity. Their behavior is sometimes extreme and often selfish, but they want to do the right thing, and mature even in the short timeline of the novel." - BookLoons.com "The ending will leave you panting for more." - Cynthia Leitich Smith, Children's and YA Literature Resources Excerpt We were sweating out the summer on a concrete stoop, me and Critter and sometimes Jesse, swigging bottles of Coke, or maybe Bud Lights, if Layla's supply was plentiful enough that she wouldn't notice a few were missing. The central air conditioning broke in late-May, during the first of a seemingly never-ending string of heat waves, and we were saving up to get it fixed. By “we” I mean Nurse Layla, my pseudo mom, who pulled fourteen-hour shifts at the hospital, sometimes during the day and sometimes at night, because night shifts meant more money and more money meant we'd sleep in cool rooms before September. Jesse helped, giving Layla half the cash he earned jockeying slushies at the Sip-n-Stop down by the Movie King. Me and Critter were supposed to pick up part-time jobs, too, but when Critter failed English (again) and I scored my own F in biology, it was no go. For one thing, summer school started right after the Fourth of July, and no one would hire us for the few weeks we had off before the start of our Loser Kid classes. For another, Layla wanted us studying 24/7. Getting educated, she insisted, was our real job, and if we didn't start cracking down, she'd have to start cracking skulls. If You Liked Anyone But You, You Might Enjoy:
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