After the Moment

Publishers Weekly

After his stepsister's father dies, good guy Leigh moves from New York to Washington, D.C., to support her and finish his senior year. There, he falls in love with "train wreck" Maia, a recovering anorexic, self-injurer and germaphobe, whom he tries desperately to protect. When a group of boys do "something unspeakable" to Maia, Leigh commits an act of violence that threatens his future and their relationship. Readers will appreciate how real this story feels, in its telling details and careful conversations, as well as in the murky motivations behind Leigh's actions and his whole relationship with Maia, which haunts him years later. As she did in My Heartbeat and Stay with Me, the author creates a wonderful, complicated but loving family for her protagonist. Readers may have difficulty tracking all the characters, but they will understand that each family member is there to support Leigh, from his emotionally challenged father to his romance novelist mother who constantly warns Leigh "that he didn't take enough time for what might please him-for what he wanted." This is an expertly crafted story about a complicated first love. Ages 14-up. (May)

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Children's Literature - Anita Barnes Lowen

The summer before his senior year, Leigh moves to the suburbs of Washington, D.C. That is where he meets Maia, " a strange girl who had to be coaxed into eating and who had a fierce attachment to a man in prison." But love is blind and Leigh falls "in love with her—suddenly and forever..." How can a germ-phobic recovering anorexic who is (or was) a cutter with self-inflicted scars on her feet and elbows arouse such unfathomable feelings of love and protection? Leigh "built his universe on Maia's smile...and the way her skin smelled." Then a group of boys do something unspeakable to Maia and thanks to modern technology, it is all over their high school. And Leigh's violent attempt to defend Maia's honor goes horribly and unexpectedly wrong. Now four years later, out of the blue, he sees her across a room. Is this unexpected meeting a signal that their relationship can be renewed and end happily ever after like mother's romance novel. Or have the two moved so far beyond what happened in the past, there is no hope of beginning again? A poignant story about first love, family relationships, trust and betrayal. Reviewer: Anita Barnes Lowen

VOYA - Angelica Delgado

At a dinner party in New York City, Leigh reconnects with his high school sweetheart. While guests clink glasses and make small talk, Leigh remembers how he fell in love with Maia Morland and broke her heart. Leigh moved from New York City to the Washington DC suburbs the summer before his senior year. Amidst the looming war in Iraq, Leigh met fragile, wounded Maia and grew to love her, despite the fact that he had another girlfriend and Maia had "SI [self-injury], anorexia, acute anxiety, and other stuff." When Maia's life takes a tragic turn, Leigh makes a decision that changes their relationship irrevocably. Aside from deliberate pacing that sometimes slows to a halt, Freymann-Weyr's newest novel about relationships (familial, romantic, friendship) does not disappoint. The author delicately balances a love story with family obligations, violence, and the perils of being a nice guy. Leigh's fascination with the war and misguided chivalry challenge ideas about masculinity and its relation to aggression. Maia's troubled nature and sometimes inexplicable actions are sure to spark debate. Several elements in this novel—multifaceted characters, ambiguous motivations, and gender dynamics—lend themselves to lively group discussions. Hand this one to mature readers who will get the most out of the complex themes. Reviewer: Angelica Delgado

School Library Journal

Gr 9 Up

Leigh Hunter, 17, moves from New York to Washington, DC, to help his stepsister Millie cope with the death of her father. Maia Morland, a recovering anorexic and self-mutilator, eats her meals with the Hunters as part of her recovery. At first Leigh wants only to keep her safe but finds himself falling in love. He eats so that she will eat. She's raped (and filmed) by three prep-school classmates on his one night away from DC. In the background, bombs drop on Baghdad, and Leigh discovers that nations, like preppies, can justify anything. The author's feel for character and voice has never been better, and Leigh narrates with deep intelligence and heightened feeling. He's a complex and fully fleshed out protagonist. Millie is an especially vivid supporting character-precocious and hyper-verbal, wide-eyed yet cosmopolitan. Maia, however, around whom so much of the narrative revolves, sometimes seems too lightly drawn. She's clearly tortured and is ultimately unreachable. The author's prose is at once spare and sophisticated, and the resulting mood gentle and furious by turns. Simple details-Leigh synchronizing bites of cake with Maia-evoke astonishing emotion. The DC suburbs are appropriately generic, and the guilty comforts of the prep-school world are thoughtfully presented. The story begins and ends four years after Leigh and Maia part, and a sense of tense foreboding moves the plot.-Johanna Lewis, New York Public Library

Kirkus Reviews

Leigh is a popular athlete from New York City. Maia is a wise yet strange suburbanite. Disaster in the form of a family member's death brings them together. This, however, is a story of love, not romance. Maia and Leigh's path is fraught with relationship baggage, Maia's host of self-injurious behaviors and Leigh's inability to say no to anyone. Leigh brings about the end of their relationship when he beats up another student in an attempt to defend Maia's honor. Readers who love doomed, tearjerker romances will be enthralled by Leigh and Maia's fate, if they stay with the story through Leigh's complicated family angst and personal apathy. Freymann-Weyr does a lot of telling without showing to fill in Leigh's background and emotional states, which makes the pacing drag. The story moves back and forth in time, and the delineation between the two isn't always clear. The book's strengths lie in the characterizations and the author's ability to convey the many complex layers of love. With its wise writing and literary word choices, this is a smart book with questionable popularity. (Fiction. 14 & up)

From the Publisher

"Readers will appreciate how real this story feels, in its telling details and careful conversations . . . This is an expertly crafted story about a complicated first love."—Publishers Weekly, starred review

"The book’s strengths lie in the characterizations and the author’s ability to convey the many complex layers of love. With its wise writing and literary word choices, this is a smart book . . . "—Kirkus Reviews

". . . an engaging male-coming-of-age tale that explores notions of violence, devotion, and trust against a thought-provoking backdrop of love and war."—Horn Book

"The author’s prose is at once spare and sophisticated, and the resulting mood gentle and furious by turns. Simple details–Leigh synchronizing bites of cake with Maia–evoke astonishing emotion. The DC suburbs are appropriately generic, and the guilty comforts of the prep-school world are thoughtfully presented. The story begins and ends four years after Leigh and Maia part, and a sense of tense foreboding moves the plot."—School Library Journal

“Freymann-Weyr . . . writes with polished intensity . . . Subtle, reflective, and emotional, this is a fascinating complement to Chris Lynch’s Inexcusable in its exploration of a young man who can’t see beyond himself enough to avoid devastating the person he loves most.”—The Bulletin

"Freymann-Weyr offers another rare, sophisticated exploration of love at the end of adolescence . . . Within this story’s raw, honest, psychologically attuned scenes, older teens will find their own aching questions about how best to love, shape a future, and “do the right thing.”—Booklist, starred review

"Written with great heart, this book caters to readers young and old."—Romantic Times

"Freymann-Weyr’s newest novel about relationships (familial, romantic, friendship) does not disappoint. The author delicately balances a love story with family obligations, violence, and the perils of being a nice guy. Leigh’s fascination with the war and misguided chivalry challenge ideas about masculinity and its relation to aggression. Maia’s troubled nature and sometimes inexplicable actions are sure to spark debate. Several elements in this novel—multifaceted characters, ambiguous motivations, and gender dynamics—lend themselves to lively group discussions. Hand this one to mature readers who will get the most out of complex themes."—VOYA, (4Q4P)