copyright date: May 2011 primarily marketed for: young adults (high school) Shine by Lauren Myracle is one of those books I felt an itch to talk about as soon as I finished reading. The story is that powerful, the craft that stunning, the characters that compelling. It is a book that will surely linger in my mind for days to come. Ever since I took a summer literature class in Southern American Fiction, I have been in love with stories set in the South. So, I am sure that element drew me further into what is already a captivating story. Shine begins with a fictitious, yet chilling, newspaper article reporting the brutal beating of sixteen-year-old Patrick Truman, apparently driven by his homosexuality. From that point on, while Patrick lies comatose in a hospital, the story becomes Cat’s. Cat used to be one of Patrick’s closest friends, before a traumatic event in her own life caused her to quietly withdraw from all social activity. It
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