THE YOU I'VE NEVER KNOWN by Ellen Hopkins

Ariel's family is her father. The two of them have been on their own since Ariel's mother ran off. Ariel was only a toddler at the time and has been raised to believe that her mother was a lesbian whore. Life for the father and daughter has been a blur of different cities living in their car or with a string of women Ariel's father has charmed.

Recently, Ariel has found comfort in Sonora, California. She is attending school and has even made a few friends. There's Monica, a girl who frightens Ariel because her look and touch stir something in Ariel that would likely have her father labeling her a lesbian whore just like her mother. There's also kind and supportive Gabe, the nephew of Ariel's father's recent lady friend and drinking partner.

Maya speaks in journal-type chapters writing to her daughter Casey. Maya is trapped in a marriage of her own making. She used her teen pregnancy as a way to escape life with a cult-obsessed mother, but it landed her in a marriage to an enlisted man about ten years her senior. She wishes for more for her daughter as she writes about her struggle to be a good mom and share her love with the only positive thing in her life.

Author Ellen Hopkins works her magic in this combination of verse and prose to weave together two lives whose connections are sure to surprise her readers. Both Ariel and Maya show courage and determination as they explore their individual identities and where they fit in the world. I found THE YOU I'VE HEVER KNOWN as compelling as Hopkins's IDENTICAL.