Prom

From Goodreads:

"Philadelphia high school who doesn’t care about the prom. It’s pretty much the only good thing that happens there, and everyone plans to make the most of it—especially Ash’s best friend, Natalia, who’s the head of the committee and has prom stars in her eyes. Then the faculty advisor is busted for taking the prom money and Ash finds herself roped into putting together a gala dance. But she has plenty of help—from her large and loving (if exasperating!) family, from Nat’s eccentric grandmother, from the principal, from her fellow classmates. And in making the prom happen, Ash learns some surprising things about making her life happen, too."

OK, that first sentence doesn't help a lot, but you get the gist of it and I'm not gonna try to edit it. What I love about LHAnderson's books isn't the realism, but the voice of them. They remind me a lot of Chris Cutcher's books, though less dark. There's something so captivating about Ash and her crazy home life and how she handles the problems in front of her. There were also the faintest overtones of Cinderella in the story, with Natalia's crazy grandmother acting as a sort of fairy godmother, but mostly it was about a girl doing what needed to be done and her family coming together to help her do it.

Gentle Reader Alert: There were a fair amount of swears in here, but nothing above a PG-13 level, and some innuendo and one "camera panning to the window" situation.