The Nature of Jade

From Goodreads:

I am not my illness. "Girl with Anxiety," "Trauma of the Week" -- no. I hate stuff like that. Everyone, everyone has their issue. But the one thing my illness did make me realize is how necessary it is to ignore the dangers of living in order to live. And how much trouble you can get into if you can't.

Jade DeLuna is too young to die. She knows this, and yet she can't quite believe it, especially when the terrifying thoughts, loss of breath, and dizzy feelings come. Since being diagnosed with Panic Disorder, she's trying her best to stay calm, and visiting the elephants at the nearby zoo seems to help. That's why Jade keeps the live zoo webcam on in her room, and that's where she first sees the boy in the red jacket. A boy who stops to watch the elephants. A boy carrying a baby.

His name is Sebastian, and he is raising his son alone. Jade is drawn into Sebastian's cozy life with his son and his activist grandmother on their Seattle houseboat, and before she knows it, she's in love. With this boy who has lived through harder times than anyone she knows. This boy with a past.

Jade knows the situation is beyond complicated, but she hasn't felt this safe in a long time. She owes it all to Sebastian, her boy with the great heart. Her boy who is hiding a terrible secret. A secret that will force Jade to decide between what is right, and what feels right.

Master storyteller Deb Caletti has once again created characters so real, you will be breathless with anticipation as their riveting story unfolds.

From Misty:
I can't say that I was necessarily breathless with anticipation, nor that this story was riveting, but I liked it.  I recently read The Fortunes of Indigo Sky and didn't like it.  I also read The Secret Life of Prince Charming, and I did like it, so I thought this might be the tie breaker, and it was.  Clicking "Like."  (click)

Place a normal teen in a completely unreal situation and you get a Deb Caletti book.  Only, they aren't normal teens.  They can't be.  Are there teenagers like this?  I don't know any teens like this.  I never have, not even when I was a teenager, so I just find these books very hard to believe.  They are like fantasy novels to me.  Are there 16 year olds that get drunk every weekend?  And parents that let them?  And other teens that envy them?  I just don't get it.

But besides the fantasy landscape you have to accept, the writing is good, the characters (feelings) are real and raw and believable, and the overall product leaves you with a good impression of a novel you cannot quite take at face value. Every so often, Caletti will impart a bit of information, and if you are not careful or impressionable (like say, a teenager) you might take it as a bit of wisdom.  But a lot of these "ah-hah" moments are opinions, Caletti-isms.  I would be reading along and think, "Oh what a clever way to say that," immediately followed by, "But...that's not true."

Anyway, though I am still making up my mind about Caletti, The Nature of Jade was a good YA read I would recommend to lovers of YA who don't mind a little swearing, like a sweet little romance, and enjoy reading about social and emotional difficulties getting mostly conquered.