Between Safe and Real

Dannie M. Olguin

মার্চ ২০২২ · Fire & Ice Young Adult Books

এই ই-বুকের বিষয়ে

Fifteen-year-old Zoe Wilkes has ninety-nine problems, and a boring life ain't one. With two hungry siblings, an empty fridge, and a violent mother to tip-toe around, Zoe can't slow down enough to catch a breath. When she discovers Mama’s been reading her diary, Zoe realizes she has to stop writing in it. Trouble is, if she stops, Mama’s sure to think she’s hiding something, and will tear through her room like a tornado—again—to find out what. Her solution: write Mama-safe entries in the first diary, while writing her real thoughts in a plain-old composition book.

The more entries she makes, the fuzzier the line between safe lies and terrifying truths becomes, and it’s not long before Zoe fears she’s just as unstable as Mama. After all, the apple never falls too far from the tree. If there’s even a shred of truth to her safe journal, then maybe her real journal’s just hot mess of made-up horrors. When things at home escalate, Zoe must face reality in order to keep herself and siblings safe. But facing reality means taking steps that could shatter her family. Can her friends, Cheryl and Nate, help her understand that love shouldn’t hurt and blood doesn’t make a family?

লেখক সম্পর্কে

Except for that brief time in fourth grade when Dannie M. Olguin wanted to be either a tight-rope walker or a bounty hunter, all she ever wanted to be is a writer. She even scratched out Danielle Steel's last name in magazine ads and replaced it with her own. Reading and writing were her escape, and she fully credits books and writing with surviving her childhood.

She is a member of various online and in-person writers and critique groups and attends conferences regularly. In 2019, she co-taught a class at Dallas Fort Worth Writers Conference. In 2018, she was chosen to share a narrative nonfiction piece in front of 500 strangers at a true storytelling event. As an introvert with a fear of public speaking, this tops her list of Scariest Things She’s Ever Done—and she taught her kid how to drive in Dallas! She also once took the watch off a dead man and gave it to her mother. She swears no laws were broken and that taking the watch wasn’t nearly as badass as it sounds

www.dmolguin.com