I’ve Got Plans for You

Celeste and Rory are enemies from the minute newcomer Celeste takes Rory’s spot on swim team in 7th grade. Now, they are about to graduate from high school and there has been no slowdown in them thinking about ways to hurt each other—while still being in the popular-kids friends group. A trip to Celeste’s family’s beach house sounds idyllic, until they both seek to up the ante. Secrets can be kept, but at what price? As misdeeds unfold against the background of a storm and power outage and mutual suspicion, the tension heightens and readers are left wondering who is telling the truth and who can be trusted. Blackmail? Yes. Teen angst? Yes. Musical chairs on the relationship front? Double yes! At the root is Celeste’s pastor father badly misbehaving, sabotaging her social status. What’s a girl to do? Clarke captures all the anxiety and self-doubt of not-quite-fully-cooked adults being thrust into the real world, with a wicked and surprising twist.—Dodie Ownes