Barbara Baker grew up in Banff, Alberta and spends her free time racing up and down the Rockies to keep up with an active family of outdoor enthusiasts. Her passions include writing, photography, exploring landscapes and time with her grandchildren. Many of her short stories are published in magazines and anthologies. Carousel Pictures made a mini film of her essay, Life Support, which played in the Toronto International Film Festival (fall 2019). You can contact her at bbaker.write@gmail.com
Just when Banff, Alberta begins to feel like home, and everything is perfect, fifteen-year-old Jillian’s life goes sideways. The unthinkable happens to her boyfriend’s sister and Greg must head back home, halfway across the globe. Aunt Steph drops hints about applying for a job in Waterton. And new friendships get prickly. Jillian is sure her life can’t get any more complicated…but then it does.
Reviewed by: Yvonne Machuk EdD / Banff, Alberta
Having met Jillian in Summer of Lies and What about Me?, readers will be excited to catch up with her in book 3. As she navigates yet more of the angst faced by teenagers, her story is superbly told by Barbara Baker as the author gets inside the female teenage mind.
Jillian has to start grade 10 a month after the semester begins in a new school where everyone knows everyone’s business. And it totally sucks.
She loves her Opa but moving from Toronto to Banff to help Aunt Steph take care of him was not Jillian’s idea. As she navigates unfamiliar hallways, bear attacks and strangers she makes choices which impact relationships and a potential boyfriend.
Will the last choice Jillian makes be the right one?
Fourteen-year-old Jillian has no idea who her dad is but uses her banishment from summer parties in Toronto to isolation in Banff National Park to track him down. But it’s not easy. A reclusive log cabin, a grumpy aunt, few trips to civilization and seriously—no cell phone reception?
When she’s not searching for her dad, Jillian pursues an elusive girl, Mika, who lives on her own in the wilderness. Together they track down a poacher and Jillian reunites Mika with her family. All should be well - but it isn’t. Big secrets in Jillian’s family surface, Jillian’s boyfriend ditches her, and her dad wants proof he’s her dad. Like she’d make this up?
Jillian swaps her English saddle for a western one as she unravels the truth about who she really is. What she learns changes everything she knows about herself and demands an inner strength she never knew she had.