IR VERDICT:
In STEALING AWAY, teenage runaway Jaynie Haart turns identity thief to attempt to escape a drug-addled mother and her menacing boyfriend. While the reader will sympathize with Jaynie and root for her success, her naïve and stereotypical preoccupation with a boy she just met leads her to make poor choices and is incredibly frustrating. Despite this, the book is mostly engaging and the author manages to throw in a few surprising twists that ties everything up in a mostly believable, if a bit too convenient, way.