Claire's Curse

Rating:
Summary: Old-fashioned teen romance
Review: At first glance, the Phillips seems like the perfect American family. They have a beautiful home in the suburbs and all the trappings of an upper middle class lifestyle. But there's trouble brewing under the surface. The first clue is 15-year old Lyn's obsession with her 17-year old sister, Claire. Although early on it's easy to see why. Claire is an attractive and popular honor student and their mother constantly reminds Lyn of the ways she fails to measure up. When Claire suddenly dumps Jim, the captain of the football team and takes up with the local car mechanic Ray, who wears an earring, the trouble definitely bubbles over.

Mrs. Phillips goes ballistic over Claire's newfound rebellion and Lyn is caught in the middle. If it isn't bad enough dealing with her overbearing mother and her sassy, secretive sister, Lyn finds herself with three new friends. Jim, the pining ex-boyfriend wants her to help him get Claire back. Dave is the geeky class valedictorian who tutors her so he can get close enough to Claire to ask her to the Senior Prom. And Ray wins her over with his independent, brotherly nature. The result is a comical triangle of spy vs spy as the boys use Lyn to get to her sister. While everyone dumps on her, she in turn dumps on her friend Toni. She gets so caught up in the turmoil at home that she's oblivious to a more serious problem Toni lives with every day. But Ray points it out to her in the nick of time as Toni's dad becomes increasingly violent putting her and her sister Kathy in danger. The Phillips family is forced to set aside their own problems in order to rescue Toni and Kathy from their abusive father. In the process, Claire confesses a shocking family secret she's been keeping inside.

Claire's Curse is an old-fashioned teen romance with a dysfunctional family twist. Readers will delight in guessing, then finally finding out who winds up going to the Prom with whom.

Copyright (c) 2004 by Peggy Tibbetts