When I was a teenager, teen pregnancy seemed to be a common theme in fiction and I read a number of books about it, however they all revolved around the mother. When I saw this book was based around the father, I wanted to read it even though I'm 35 now and YA contemporary is not something I usually have any interest in at all. It helps that the author is Malorie Blackman, who I grew up reading. It's not a new book, having been first published in 2010.

The story is engaging and realistic, if perhaps a bit too fast paced (a lot of time passes in the space of 300 pages).  I'm clearly not the target audience now, but I think if I had read this book as a teen I would have loved it. 

There is a significant secondary plotline regarding Dante's younger brother, which the blurb does not reference at all and honestly probably should do. Adam, who is gay, is probably the most likeable character in the book, but his storyline is the hardest to read. Trigger warnings are at the bottom of this review. 

Overall it's a predictable story, there's very little in either storyline which I didn't see coming, but it's well told and worth reading. I like that Blackman chooses to end the book without tying everything up perfectly in a "happy ending" - life doesn't work life that - but it still felt like a good place to stop. 


Trigger warnings: homophobia, assault and attempted suicide.