The Tension of Opposites by Kristina McBride

I told you I would get this out today!! Happy release day (again) Kristina!!

The Tension of Opposites by Kristina McBride

Genre: YA Fiction

Pages: Hardcover, 288 pages

Publisher: EgmontUSA May 25th 2010

It’s been two years since Noelle disappeared. Two years since her bike was discovered, sprawled on a sidewalk. Two years of silence, of worry, of fear.

For those two long years, her best friend Tessa has waited, living her own life in a state of suspended animation. Because how can she allow herself to enjoy a normal high school life if Noelle can’t? How dare she have other friends, go to dances, date boys, without knowing what happened to the girl she thought she would share everything with?

And then one day, someone calls Noelle’s house. She’s alive.

A haunting psychological thriller taken straight from the headlines, The Tension of Opposites is a striking debut that explores the emotional aftermath of a kidnapping on the victim, and on the people she left behind.

This has to be one of my new favorite YA books. McBride has done an amazing job with this debut and I can’t pump it up enough. I felt like I was with Tessa the entire novel through every step of what she was going through. She is a completely believable character and I loved hearing the story from the best friends’ perspective. Often times we forget that there are others left behind who are just as hurt when someone disappears as the family and McBride has done a phenomenal job describing Tessa’s emotions, struggles, and trials that she went through with Noelle’s disappearance and re-emersion into society.

The book definitely lived up to my expectations and I am so glad that I took it on as part of my challenge. It had both light and dark elements and I loved that McBride took those issues head on and didn’t sugar coat them. They were addressed in a way that teens (and adults) can relate to and need to read that raw emotion and truth about what Noelle went through. The dialogue was spot on when it comes to teens and how they talk to each other, deal with issues (or avoid them) and the dialogue between characters. Of course, I think being a teacher had a little something to do with that.

I couldn’t have been more pleased with this novel and could not put it down. It was so very well written and unlike anything (plot wise) I have ever read. Run, don’t walk, to the bookstore and get Kristina McBride’s debut novel today!!