Fourteen-year-old Joseph tries to avoid trouble and keep in touch with his father, who is serving in Iraq, as he and his alcoholic, drug-addicted mother move from one homeless shelter to another.

A tumultuous love affair between Reena and Sawyer ends when Sawyer abruptly abandons their Florida town, causing Reena to bear their child alone and struggle with mistrust when Sawyer returns three years later.

After a powerful new drug causes havoc and deadly addiction, seventeen-year-old Faye trains to take revenge on those who took her future and murdered the boy she loved.

Just before the most important violin competition of her career, seventeen-year-old prodigy Carmen faces critical decisions about her anti-anxiety drug addiction, her controlling mother, and a potential romance with her most talented rival.

Iggy Corso, who lives in city public housing, is caught physically and spiritually between good and bad when he is kicked out of high school, goes searching for his missing mother, and causes his friend to get involved with the same dangerous drug dealer who deals to his parents.

A group of teens in a Seattle-area rehabilitation center form an unlikely friendship as they begin to focus less on their own problems with drugs and alcohol by reaching out to help a new member, who seems to have even deeper issues to resolve.

High school junior Becca is just a "band geek" until when her friends introduce her to molly, a form of ecstasy, and she finds herself with new friends--even a boyfriend--but soon learns there is a price to her newfound popularity.

Abram and Juliette have lived down the street from each other all their lives but had no connection until Juliette's mother and Abram's father had an affair that ended in a deadly car crash, then a year later, the teens begin a tentative relationship while picking up their prescription medications.

"For Tim, it wouldn't be smart to fall for Alice. For Alice, nothing could be scarier than falling for Tim. But Tim has never been known for making the smart choice, and Alice is starting to wonder if 'smart' is always right. ... Told in Tim's and Alice's ... voices, this return to the setting of My life next door is a love story about failing first, trying again, and having to decide whether to risk it all once more." -- From dust jacket.