sometimes you need to make a mess.

Different people were good at different things, Lena mused. Lena was good at writing thank-you notes, for instance, and Effie was good at being happy.

I told him that he better be good to you. When you came along, I said I'd share you, but I told him to remember that you're my sister. I loved you first.

The distinction has blurred between young adult and adult books. Some of the teen books have become more sophisticated.

You broke up with him," a combination Effie-Carmen voice in her head reminded her.

"But that didn't mean you were allowed to stop loving me," she felt like saying to him.

Parents were the only ones obligated to love you; from the rest of the world you had to earn it.