The Things You Kiss Goodbye

by Leslie Connor

Overview

Fans of Sarah Dessen will love this heartbreaking story about family, loss, and the joys and disappointments of first love.

Bettina Vasilis can hardly believe it when star basketball player Brady Cullen convinces her strict father to let them date. That summer, Bettina falls in love with Brady and the freedom that comes along with him. But when school starts up again, Brady unexpectedly changes for the worse. Unable to give up on her first love just yet, she finds herself trapped in an abusive relationship.

Then she meets "Cowboy," a smoldering older guy and the last guy her father would approve. Yet he is everything Brady is not—gentle, caring, and interested in getting to know the real Bettina. When tragedy strikes, Bettina must tell her family the truth—and kiss goodbye the things she thought she knew about herself and the men in her life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780060890926
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	06/24/2014
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	368
File size:	611 KB
Age Range:	14 - 17 Years

About the Author

Leslie Connor is the author of several award-winning books for children, including Waiting for Normal, winner of the ALA Schneider Family Book Award, Crunch, Miss Bridie Chose a Shovel, and Dead on Town Line, a young adult novel in verse. She lives with her family in Connecticut.

Editorial Reviews

05/01/2014
Gr 9 Up—After 15-year-old Bettina Vasilis's best and only friend moves away, she is left socially stranded in the home of her traditional Greek family. Suddenly her life as the thrift shop-raiding, bad girl "dancerina" comes to an end. Lonely and unoccupied, Bettina's sophomore year ends with the unlikely attention of the up-and-coming basketball star, Brady Cullen. Even more surprising is the acceptance of this new relationship by her strict father, Bampas, who allows her to date and grow closer to Brady throughout the summer. The teen rarely questions why their summer dates only include the two of them or why Brady encourages her unlikely application to the cheerleading squad, but as their junior year begins, she develops an awareness of Brady's new social standing as the school's star athlete. Soon Bettina begins to question her changing relationship. Then she meets "Cowboy", an older auto mechanic who challenges her to focus more on the things important to her, like her art. What begins as a chance friendship turns into something more, despite the taboo age difference. This novel is compulsively readable. The characters are well developed, the plot is compelling, and the ending plausible and satisfying. Bettina's Greek family is a welcome dimension to the complicated love triangle. An enjoyable addition to YA chick lit.—Lynn Rashid, Marriotts Ridge High School, Marriottsville, MD

School Library Journal

★ 05/12/2014
Having led a sheltered life, sophomore Bettina Vasilis is surprised when her strict Greek-American father allows her to date basketball star Brady. Brady is sweet and attentive, at first, “what anyone would call a good boyfriend,” but his dark side soon emerges. After a disturbing incident with Brady, Bettina almost literally falls into the arms of a handsome mechanic she nicknames Cowboy, who works near her school. During the weeks that follow, his garage becomes her refuge, and he becomes her confidante as she sorts out her uncertainties and nurses very real bruises. First-person narration brimming with emotion traces how Bettina and Cowboy’s friendship evolves, although both of them know her father (not to mention the law) wouldn’t condone a romantic relationship. Beautifully capturing the intensity of first love, Connor (Waiting for Normal) draws readers into a world filled with Greek culture and punctuated by upsetting moments of abuse. Readers will be unprepared for the book’s shocking climax, which changes Bettina’s life forever and brings her closer to her family as she discovers who she is and what she wants. Ages 14–up. (July)

Publishers Weekly

With compassion and respect, author Connor explores the ways in which loving relationships can get twisted into cycles of misery. Be ready with the hankies; this one is a real tearjerker.

Booklist

Connor lets the story play out slowly, a choice that adds multiple subplots but also deepens characterization and elevates the book above simple problem-novel territory. Bettina’s situation creates much food for thought.

Horn Book Magazine

A girl who can’t find her way out of an abusive relationship finds herself longing for an impossible one. Unforgettable with moments I wanted to reach in and hug sweet Bettina. An unforgettable book every girl should read.

Jen Bigheart

A well told & intricate story with a refreshingly authentic teen voice.

Jessica Wood

Sixteen-year-old Bettina Vasilis grows up in a strict Greek family. Her father controls everything she does. When she and Brady start dating, her father approves. At first, Brady seems caring but gradually shows his true self: an emotional and physical abuser who cares only for his basketball playing and what his friends think. Brady has excuses for a violent push into her locker, painful tugs on her braid, squeezing her hand hard enough to need medical attention. Though not ready, she becomes intimate with him, all the while thinking something is lacking in herself for not trying hard enough in the relationship, always accepting Brady’s ever-present excuses. All her life she has accepted her father’s instructions of filio antio, or “kiss it goodbye,” meaning do not cry or fuss, so she does this with Brady’s behavior. It is only after meeting Cowboy that she sees the difference in treatment and learns what true caring should be. She knows her father will never let her date an “older” man with problems of his own, but Bettina and Cowboy truly love each other. After a tragedy occurs, Bettina understands she has to be honest with her family and herself. There is a crowd of issues touched on in this story: physical and emotional abuse; lack of confidence; loving, but restrictive parents; first romance and love; family dynamics; bullying; and loss and grief. Bettina gains the courage to become a survivor. Her emotions are deftly captured and her dilemmas come across realistically, especially the heartbreaking ending. Reviewer: Jane Van Wiemokly; Ages 15 to 18.

VOYA, August 2014 (Vol. 37, No. 3) - Jane Van Wiemokly

★ 2014-04-09
A shy, overprotected girl is the focus of this character study of a victim of physical abuse.Sixteen-year-old Bettina keeps to herself. Her Greek father dominates her life, rarely allowing her out of the house. She has no friends until she meets Brady, a good-looking boy who asks her out, politely seeking her father's permission. With approval, Bettina begins a relationship that at first seems just what she needs, until Brady pushes her for sex and begins deliberately to hurt her, always claiming his violence is accidental. By chance, Bettina meets a young man she calls "Cowboy." She immediately feels an easy connection to him and begins surreptitiously visiting his small car-repair shop. As events progress, Brady becomes even more abusive, while the undercurrent of a real romance develops between Bettina and Cowboy, despite their 10-year age difference. Once the two realize they are truly in love, disaster strikes. Connor keeps her story completely realistic, a welcome relief from standard-issue romances. Her fluid prose and convincing characterizations lift the story beyond the average. Only Cowboy seems idealized, as readers see him through Bettina's eyes—also true to life. The book's examination of abusive relationships is cleareyed and instructive.Romance fans who happen upon this will find an absorbing portrait of abuse and recovery. (Fiction. 14-18)

Kirkus Reviews