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AUTOFOCUS

Lauren Gibaldi

From the author of The Night We Said Yes comes a fun and heartfelt YA contemporary tale. When Maude decides to search for information about her birth mother, she finds out more than she expected.
Family. It’s always been a loaded word for Maude, whose birth mother died after giving her up for adoption. With her best friend, Treena, in college in the same town where her birth mother grew up, Maude decides to visit and explore her past. But when Maude arrives, she quickly discovers that Treena doesn’t seem to have time for her—or for helping with her search. Enter Bennett, a cute guy who lives in Treena’s dorm. He understands Maude’s need to find her mother. And as Bennett helps Maude, she starts to realize that her mother’s past doesn’t have to define her own future. Lauren Gibaldi has crafted a beautiful and timely coming-of-age story that poses the question: Is who we are determined at birth, or can we change as we grow? Lauren Gibaldi is a public librarian who's been, among other things, a magazine editor, high school English teacher, bookseller, and circus aerialist (seriously). She has a BA in literature and a master's degree in library and information studies. She lives in Orlando, Florida, with her husband and daughter.
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Published 2016-06-14 by HarperTeen

Comments

Maude felt like someone I knew—a girl so easy to root for—and her story captured me completely. AUTOFOCUS hit all the right notes.

Paste Magazine listed AUTOFOCUS as one of the "most anticipated" for 2016: http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2015/12/the-10-most-anticipated-ya-books-of-2016.html

With the help of her best friend and a swoony sidekick, it’s a story that takes you on a sweet emotional ride. Touching on the complexities of adoptees and family, distance and friendship, first love and first heartbreak, it’s one of my favorite YA reads of 2016"

The author is featured in Teen Vogue: http://www.teenvogue.com/gallery/ya-authors-how-to-write-a-book

Barnes & Noble listed AUTOFOCUS as anticipated sophomore novel: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/teen/13-highly-anticipated-sophomore-standalones-of-2016/