<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=4OjgMP_0tKVLPjt00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=4OjgMP_0tKVLPjt00" width="1171" height="1769" ><figcaption>Patrick Flores-Scott’s “No Going Back” is the third in a series of books about teens growing up in a south Seattle suburb.</figcaption></figure>How unlikely that two books with the same title should come out at the same time.This is not a review of the controversial new memoir by South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem. Instead, we’re looking at Patrick Flores-Scott’s third young adult novel in a series about teens living hard-luck lives in the suburbs south of Seattle. And, like Noem’s book, it’s called “No Going Back.”All of the stories in Flores-Scott’s trilogy — “Jumped In,” “American Road Trip” and now “No Going Back,” begin in the same neighborhood, and when I read the first few pages, I felt a jolt of recognition.The fictional high school Flores-Scott created for his characters seemed familiar, and the streets and parks he named were a spot-on description of the diverse community where my husband and I raised our kids and saw them through their own tumultuous years.This week's bookThis week’s book“No Going Back” by Patrick Flores-ScottChristy Ottaviano Books — 352 pp — $18.99It turns out that the author taught reading at the middle school in that neighborhood a few years back.In “No Going Back,” lead character Antonio Sullivan is heading back to the neighborhood after spending more than a year in a juvenile detention center for a theft he didn’t directly commit, while the people who were more involved in the crime went free.Still, juvie has given 17-year-old Antonio a chance to get his head screwed on straight. He’s achieved sobriety, recognized the consequences of his mistakes, and acquired an emotional toolkit of healthier ways to deal with stress and disappointment.When he wins early release from the detention center for demonstrating good behavior, Antonio is determined to make amends. He wants to get back into the good graces of his estranged mom. And he hopes to see Maya again, his lifelong best friend.But life has a way of throwing curveballs, and in the 72 hours between Antonio’s release and when he is scheduled to have his first meeting with his parole officer on the outside, he finds himself breaking some of the conditions that had been laid out for him.Some of these are not his fault — for example, he unexpectedly bumps into his recovering alcoholic dad, whom he has been instructed to avoid. But once that happens, how does he handle it?Unfortunately, one misstep leads to another, and suddenly a cascade of wrong turns invokes outright peril.The story builds to a fever pitch that feels a bit over the top as if Flores-Scott felt compelled to pump up the tale with a scene or two from James Bond.But overall the book accurately captures the urgency and uncertainties of adolescence. It reflects on the pressures teens face, balancing their yearning for stability and belonging while also craving independence.Antonio demonstrates that moving forward in one’s life sometimes happens in stumbles rather than strides.The moral — low-key — of “No Going Back”? One can earn the trust of others, even build self-esteem, when owning up to mistakes and making things right when possible.Maybe Gov. Noem should have read this book?</div></body>

Mountain View, CA

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Bookmonger: 'No going back' in the Northwest

How unlikely that two books with the same title should come out at the same time. This is not a review of the controversial new memoir by South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem. Instead, we’re looking at Patrick Flores-Scott’s third young adult novel in a series about teens living hard-luck lives in the suburbs south of Seattle. And, like Noem’s book, it’s called “No Going Back.”