Escaping Perfect

Gr 8 Up—Cecilia Montgomery has not had a normal life since she was nearly kidnapped as a young child. Her mother, the powerful Senator Montgomery, has assigned her a full-time bodyguard and personal assistant. The press has not seen a picture of her since the kidnapping attempt. When the opportunity arises to escape at her grandmother's burial, Cecilia takes it. She arrives in Sweetbriar, TN, where her grandmother used to live. With a new name, she is able to act like a normal teenager, including skinny dipping and eating a muffin full of sugar for breakfast. But always in the background are her real name in the news and a town car that shows up in town, cruising the streets. Some things don't quite ring true in this narrative. Would this protagonist really be trained in three different martial arts and do meditation exercises to calm down? Would she play fiddle like a professional, even though her mother made her give it up? The female characters in the story are strong, and the small Southern town is full of quirky denizens. As her boyfriend's music career takes off, things come to a head. Readers will be taken by surprise at the ending and feel sure that a sequel is in the works. Reminiscent of Morgan Matson's Since You've Been Gone (S. & S., 2014), but with the extra suspense of the protagonist actually running away.