Take Me There by Carolee Dean

Living on the wrong side of town is always tough, but Dylan has learned the rules the hard way. After being in juvie with his friend, Wade, Dylan has decided to live life the right way: no drugs, booze, hijacking cars, nothing.

Now he works at a car dealership - legally. Things don't always go as planned though, Dylan finds out.

After making another horrible mistake, Dylan and Wade are on the run. Dylan wants to meet his father, who's been in prison in Texas for the past 11 years. Dylan wants to find out how his father got on the wrong side of the tracks and if there was any hope to steer clear of his father's footsteps.

Dylan wants to lead a good life so he can be with the love of his life: Jess. She is the best thing that has happened to Dylan and he wants to see if he can change and be the guy that she deserves.

When meeting his father, Dylan realizes that he's not the man he pictured. His father is calm, studious, and definitely doesn't seem like he killed a man. But whenever Dylan brings up that day, his father clams up and refuses to talk to Dylan again.

As the last few days of his father's life withers away, Dylan starts putting the pieces of the puzzle together about what happened that night and how Dylan's life could possibly end up.

Will the Texas government grant Dylan's dad another chance? Will he be executed? Will Dylan be able to live a crime free life with Jess, or is he fated to the same life as his father lived for the past 11 years? Read Take Me There by Carolee Dean to find out!

My Thoughts/Reflections
This was a great novel! Not only was there some romance between Dylan and Jess, but there was mystery and crime to keep the reader in a lot of suspense until the very end of the book.

When reading about Dylan's troubles with the local gang in California, I was reminded of the book Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles. By Carolee Dean created a different world where Dylan was able to run away from that life - even if it was just for a little while before it caught up to him.

I really enjoyed getting to know Dylan's father the most out of this novel. The reader was able to see what it was like to be in jail for 23 hours every day - stuck in the same cell with the same walls.

The mystery part was also a great add to the story. Dylan knew deep in his heart his father couldn't have killed the cop - especially because the cop was his father's closest friend.

The more Dylan thought about it, the more he remembered things from that night - including the fact that he was at the location the night of the murder when he was 6 years old.

I would absolutely recommend this book to everyone! It's written through Dylan's perspective, giving teen guys a chance to get into another guys head and really understand what it must feel like to be stuck in a bad situation and feel like everything they believed in was a lie.

I will say that there might be content unsuited for younger audiences, but older teens and adults would definitely enjoy this story and the mystery that is solved by the end of the novel.