I do know things really began to spin out of control after my first
sex dream.
It all started with a dream. Nothing exceptional, just a typical fantasy
about a boy, the kind of dream that most teen girls experience. But
Pattyn Von Stratten is not like most teen girls. Raised in a religious
-- yet abusive -- family, a simple dream may not be exactly a sin, but
it could be the first step toward hell and eternal damnation.
This dream is a first step for Pattyn. But is it to hell or to a better
life? For the first time Pattyn starts asking questions. Questions
seemingly without answers -- about God, a woman's role, sex, love --
mostly love. What is it? Where is it? Will she ever experience it? Is
she deserving of it?
It's with a real boy that Pattyn gets into real trouble. After Pattyn's
father catches her in a compromising position, events spiral out of
control until Pattyn ends up suspended from school and sent to live with
an aunt she doesn't know.
Pattyn is supposed to find salvation and redemption during her exile to
the wilds of rural Nevada. Yet what she finds instead is love and
acceptance. And for the first time she feels worthy of both -- until she
realizes her old demons will not let her go. Pattyn begins down a path
that will lead her to a hell -- a hell that may not be the one she
learned about in sacrament meetings, but it is hell all the same.
In this riveting and masterful novel told in verse, Ellen Hopkins takes
readers on an emotional roller-coaster ride. From the highs of true love
to the lows of abuse, Pattyn's story will have readers engrossed until
the very last word.
