Members of the Cast by George Beckman

YA Historical Fiction, Independently Published in 2021, 265 Pages

What I Didn’t Like:

Some scenes are sort of skipped over and explained to us later (like the winter formal) making it feel a little lopsided in pacing. I would’ve liked to explore a few of those scenes in more detail.
I was working from a paperback copy and there are some strange formatting errors that caused chapters to end mid page or leave blank pages in the middle of chapters.
The big secret that was revealed felt a little unbelievable to me. Perhaps with a bit more time or exploration it would’ve felt a little more realistic.

The changes in Maggie as she progresses through the book are obvious and relatable. The author doesn’t have to beat us over the head with phrases like “she’s a different person” because we already see it. Excellent example of showing vs telling.
All the teenage characters are well written, believable, and realistic. I enjoyed watching them make mistakes and learn from them.
Really despite the time period (this one takes place during the 1950s) this felt like a contemporary coming-of-age novel. It had a good feel to it and was overall enjoyable!

Fans of coming-of-age stories with realistic characters they can love and root for.