Rae Ballester’s father was killed in an automobile accident. Now, a year on, she is struggling to deal with the grief she feels and to overcome the survivor’s guilt of knowing that he was on his way to see her in a school performance at the time of the crash. Rae is becoming increasingly withdrawn and the relationship with her mother gets more fraught by the day. Her school friends are finding it difficult to deal with her moods. She is growing more and more alone. When Rae meets Mac, an irrepressible young man driven by a passion for show tunes, she begins to see a way forward. Reluctantly she agrees to audition for a school play. Soon she finds her new group of theatrical friends more accepting and supportive. Though, like in all the best Broadway musicals, there are bumps along the way to the big finale, Rae is finally on track.

For a debut YA novel, Brieanna Wilkoff I’LL BE THERE FOR YOU is very finely composed. It’s a near perfect balance of carefully constructed characters and an engaging well-paced plot set amongst the dramas of growing up. Wilkoff is excellent at conveying her lead character’s struggles, most especially in her dealings with her mother, as they both face down loss in their own way and fail to communicate with or support each other. It is a sophisticated approach that highlights the wider problems of communication as Rae’s troubles ripple outwards until she has become ever more isolated. By showing how Rae deals with her trauma by making positives steps forward and, as the book progresses, revealing how her whole community benefit from her new ways of thinking, Wilkoff reveals a refreshingly positive angle to the familiar YA coming-of-age story. Granted, the novel is not especially gritty, but there is a sense of authenticity in the way the author creates characters who are flawed but relatably human. Likewise Wilkoff’s evocation of the heartbreak of grief is extremely well realized.

Brieanna Wilkoff sends the reader on an emotional rollercoaster ride as they journey with Rae Ballester through the grief of her father’s sudden death into a new dawn driven by friendship and hope. I’LL BE THERE FOR YOU is a beautifully written debut YA novel that announces Wilkoff as a writer well worth following.

Brieanna Wilkoff sends readers on an emotional roller-coaster ride as they journey with Rae Ballester through the grief of her father’s sudden death into a new dawn driven by friendship and hope in I’LL BE THERE FOR YOU, a beautifully written debut YA novel that announces the author as a writer well worth following.

~Kent Lane for IndieReader