Painting Caitlyn
by Kimberly Joy Peters

    PAINTING CAITLYN by Kimberly Joy Peters
    Category:  Contemporary
    Age Recommendation:  Grades 9+
    Release Date:  10/10/06
    Publisher:  Lobster Press
    Reviewed by:  Cana Rensberger
    Rating:  5 Stars


    Remember your first serious relationship? The breathless excitement, nervousness, and giddiness that comes
    when you realize that he likes you? Caitlyn can’t believe how lucky she is.

    She first meets Tyler at an amusement park, in the splash pool. The attraction is immediate and mutual, and the
    timing couldn’t be better. Her best friend, Ashley, is totally engrossed in Brandon, her boyfriend of eight months.
    And at home, she feels less than invisible. The latest insult is moving to the basement so her room can be turned
    into a nursery. Her mother and stepfather are finally going to have their perfect baby, a baby they’ve been trying
    for for years. It seems they’ve forgotten that Caitlyn even exists.

    At first, Caitlyn convinces herself that she’s not changing. She’s doing what every other girl does who wants to
    be with her boyfriend. If she really loves him, she should try to please him, right? She ignores the inner voices
    that wonder why she’s not talking to Ashley about her relationship with Tyler. She lets Tyler talk her into doing
    things that she would never have considered before. When she realizes that she can’t paint a smiling self-portrait
    she begins to look beyond the euphoria of new love and finds support and forgiveness from her family and
    friends.

    Teen feelings of being alive and loved, truly loved, for the first time, mixed with the uncertainty, stubbornness,
    and incredibly strong desire to please, are vividly portrayed in this debut novel. Ms. Peters does a beautiful job
    of immersing the reader in the heady feeling of young love. PAINTING CAITLYN was a very enjoyable read.