Leaving Paradise: 10th Anniversary Edition

By Simone Elkeles

Nothing has been the same since Caleb Becker left a party drunk, got behind the wheel, and hit Maggie Armstrong. Even after months of painful physical therapy, Maggie walks with a limp. Her social life is nil and a scholarship to study abroad—her chance to escape everyone and their pitying stares—has been canceled. After a year in juvenile jail, Caleb’s free . . . if freedom means endless nagging from a transition coach and the prying eyes of the entire town. Coming home should feel good, but his family and ex-girlfriend seem like strangers. Caleb and Maggie are outsiders, pigeon-holed as "criminal" and "freak." Then the truth emerges about what really happened the night of the accident and, once again, everything changes. It’s a bleak and tortuous journey for Caleb and Maggie, yet they end up finding comfort and strength from a surprising source: each other.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Flux
• Release date: Mar 8, 2011
• ISBN: 9780738731131

Simone Elkeles

Simone Elkeles is the author of Leaving Paradise and four other Flux novels, including How to Ruin Your Summer Vacation and How to Ruin Your Boyfriend’s Repuation. She is also the author of the New York Times bestselling Rules of Attraction (Walker). A popular speaker at libraries around the country, when the author is not writing she TiVos reality television and watches teen movies. She lives near Chicago with her family and two dogs.

Book preview

Leaving

Paradise

ALSO BY Simone elkeles

How to Ruin a Summer Vacation

How to Ruin My Teenage Life

How to Ruin Your Boyfriend’s Reputation

Return to Paradise

Simone elkeles

Leaving

Paradise

Mendota Heights, Minnesota

Leaving Paradise © 2007 by Simone Elkeles. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever, including Internet usage, without written permission from Flux except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

First Edition

Fourteenth Printing, 2017

Book design by Steffani Sawyer

Cover design by Jake Nordby

Cover image © tunart/iStockphoto

Editing by Rhiannon Ross

Flux, an imprint of North Star Editions, Inc.

The Cataloging-in-Publication Data for Leaving Paradise is on file at the Library of Congress.

ISBN-13: 978-0-7387-1018-1

ISBN-10: 0-7387-1018-0

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Flux

North Star Editions, Inc.

2297 Waters Drive

Mendota Heights, MN 55120

www.fluxnow.com

Printed in the United States of America

For Brett

who brightens my day just by looking at him

Acknowledgments

First of all I want to thank my agent, Nadia Cornier, for always believing in my stories and my talent. I also want to thank my editor, Andrew Karre, for his insight and support while I wrote this book, along with Brian Farrey and Rhiannon Ross, two people who deserve medals for putting up with all my questions and changes. Lisa Novak gets special kudos for designing the beautiful cover!

Karen Harris’s, Marilyn Weigel’s, and Ruth Kaufman’s advice has been invaluable while I wrote this book—you ladies ROCK! Other friends who have been incredibly supportive are Lisa Laing, Sara Daniel, Erika Danou-Hasan (hereby officially dubbed The Nice One), Martha Whitehead, Amy Kahn-Randi Sak-Liane Freed-Debbie Feiger-Marianne To-Stacy Leiter-Michelle Movitz (after my surgery you all went above and beyond the call of duty), Nanci Martinez (who has the Spaghetti Spectacular recipe), and the plethora of friends I have in Chicago-North RWA. A special thanks to Heather Davis and my www.booksboysbuzz.com blog friends.

And to Pat McCurdy, whose music always makes me laugh when I’m going through the toughest of days.

Thanks to Dylan Harris for his brilliant wrestling advice and to my cousin Rob Adelman for being such an inspiration.

Derrick Bankston spent hours with me at the Juvenile Justice Complex and his hospitality went beyond my highest expectations. If my kids ever get into trouble, I’m calling you for advice.

And finally to Samantha, Brett, Moshe, and Fran (a.k.a. Mom). We’re on this journey together. Whee!

one

Caleb

I’ve been waiting a year for this moment. It’s not every day you get a chance to get out of jail. Sure, in the game of Monopoly you just have to roll the dice three times and wait for a double, or pay the fine and be free. But there are no games here at the Illinois Department of Corrections–Juvenile complex; or the DOC as we inmates call it.

Oh, it’s not as rough as it sounds. The all male juvenile division is tough, but it’s not like the adult DOC. You might ask why I’ve been locked up for the past year. I was convicted of hitting a girl with my car while driving drunk. It was a hit-and-run accident, too, which actually made the judge in my case royally pissed off. He tacked on an extra three months for that.

You ready, Caleb? Jerry, the cell guard, asks.

Yes, sir. I’ve been waiting three hundred and ten days for this. Hell, yeah, I’m ready.

I take a deep breath and follow Jerry to the room where the review committee will evaluate me. I’ve been prepped by the other guys in my cell block. Sit up straight, look full of remorse, act polite, and all that stuff. But, to tell you the truth, how much can you trust guys who haven’t gotten out themselves?

As Jerry opens the door to the evaluation room, my muscles start to twitch and I’m getting all sweaty beneath my state-issued coveralls, state-issued socks, and yep, even my state-issued briefs. Maybe I’m not so ready for this after all.

Please sit down, Caleb, orders a woman wearing glasses and a stern look on her face.

I swear the scene is out of a bad movie. Seven people sitting behind six-foot-long tables in front of one lone metal chair.

I sit on the cold, hard metal.

As you know, we’re here to evaluate your ability to leave here and begin your life as a free citizen.

Yes, ma’am, I say. I’m ready to leave.

A big guy, who I can tell is going to play bad cop, puts his hand up. Whoa, slow down. We have a few questions to ask before we make our decision.

Oh, man. Sorry.

Big Guy checks my file, flipping page after page. Tell me about the night of the accident.

The one night in my life I want to erase from history. Taking a deep breath, I say, I was drinking at a party. I drove home, but lost control of the car. When I realized I hit someone, I freaked and drove back to the party.

You knew the girl you hit?

Memories assault me. Yes, sir. Maggie Armstrong . . . my neighbor. I don’t add she was my twin sister’s best friend.

And you didn’t get out of the car to see if your neighbor was hurt?

I shift in my chair. I guess I wasn’t thinking straight.

"You guess?" another committee member asks.

If I could turn back time, I swear I would. I’d change everything.

They question me for another half hour and I spurt out answers. Why I was drinking while underage, why I’d get into a car drunk, why I left the scene of the accident. I don’t know if I’m saying the wrong thing or right thing, which puts me on edge. I’m just being me . . . seventeen-year-old Caleb Becker. If they believe me, I stand a chance of getting released early. If they don’t . . . well, I’ll be eating crappy food for another six months and continue rooming with convicts.

Big Guy looks right at me. How do we know you won’t go on another drinking binge?

I sit up straight in my chair and direct my attention to each and every one of the committee members. No offense, but I never want to come back here again. I made a huge mistake, one that’s haunted me day and night since I’ve been here. Just . . . let me go home. For the first time in my life, I’m tempted to grovel.

Instead, I sit back and wait for another question.

Caleb, please wait outside while we make our decision, the woman with the glasses says.

And it’s over. Just like that.

I wait out in the hall. I’m usually not a guy who breaks under pressure, and the past year in jail has definitely given me an invisible piece of armor I wear around me. But waiting for a group of strangers to decide your fate is majorly nerve-wracking. I wipe beads of perspiration off my forehead.

Don’t worry, guard Jerry says. If you didn’t win them over, you might get another chance in a few months.

Great, I mumble back, not consoled in the least.

Jerry chuckles, the shiny silver handcuffs hanging off his belt clinking with each movement. The dude likes his job too much.

We wait a half hour for someone to come out of the room and give me a sign of what’s next. Freedom or more jail time?

I’m tired of being locked in my cell at night.

I’m tired of sleeping on a bunk bed with springs pushing into my back.

And I’m tired of being watched twenty-four hours a day by guards, personnel, cameras, and other inmates.

The lady with the glasses opens the door. Caleb, we’re ready for you.

She isn’t smiling. Is that a bad sign? I’m bracing myself for bad news. I stand up and Jerry pats me on the back. A pity pat? Does he know something I don’t? The suspense is freaking me out.

I sit back on the metal chair. All eyes are on me. Big Guy folds his hands on the table and says, We all agree that your actions last year concerning the accident were reprehensible.

I know that. I really know that.

But we believe that was an isolated incident never to be repeated. You’ve demonstrated positive leadership qualities with other inmates and worked hard on your jobs here. The review committee has decided to release you and have you finish out your sentence with one hundred and fifty hours of community service.

Does that mean what I think it means? Release? As in I can leave here? I ask the Big Guy.

You’ll be meeting with your transition coach tomorrow morning. He’ll arrange your community service duties and report your progress to us.

Another member of the committee points a manicured finger at me. If you screw up, your transition counselor can petition the judge to bring you back here to serve out the rest of your sentence. Do you understand?

Yes, sir.

We don’t give breaks to repeaters. Go back home, be a model citizen, finish your community service requirements, and have a good, clean life.

I get it. I will, I say.

When I get back to my cell, the only one here is the new kid. He’s twelve and still cries all the time. Maybe he should’ve thought twice before he buried a knife into the back of the girl who refused to go to the school dance with him.

You ever gonna stop crying? I ask the kid.

He’s got his face in his pillow; I don’t think he hears me. But then I hear a muffled, I hate this place. I want to go home.

I change into my work boots because I get the pleasure of having to clean the dumpsters today. Yeah, me too, I say. But you’re stuck here so you might as well suck it up and get with the program.

The kid sits up, sniffles, and wipes his nose with the back of his hand. How long have you been here?

Almost a year.

That sets the kid plunging back into his pillow for more wailing. I don’t want to be locked up for a year, he cries.

Julio, another cell mate, walks into the room. Seriously, Caleb, if that kid doesn’t shut up, I’m gonna kill him. I haven’t slept for three nights because of that crybaby.

The wails stop, but then the sniffles start. Which are actually worse than the wailing.

Julio, give the kid a break, I say.

You’re too soft, Caleb. Gotta toughen these kids up.

So they can be like you? No offense, man, but you’d scare a serial killer, I say.

One look at Julio and you know he’s a tough guy. Tattoos all over his neck, back, and arms. Shaved head. When my mom comes for visits, she acts like his tattoos are contagious.

So? Julio says. They gonna let you outta here?

I sit on my bed. Yeah. Tomorrow.

Lucky sonofabitch. You goin’ back to that small town with a funny name? Wha’s it called again?

Paradise.

So I’ll be stuck here alone with crybaby while you’re in Paradise? Ain’t that a bitch. He gives the kid a wide-eyed stare. If I didn’t know Julio better, I’d be afraid, too.

This sets the kid off again.

Julio chuckles, then says Well, I’ll give you the number to my cousin Rio in Chicago. If you need to hightail it out of Paradise, Rio will hook you up.

Thanks, man, I say.

Julio shakes his head at the crying kid, says "Later, amigo," and leaves the open cell.

I tap the kid on his shoulder. He jerks away, scared.

I’m not gonna hurt you, I tell him.

He turns to me. That’s what they all say. I heard about what goes on in jails. He scoots his butt towards the wall.

Don’t flatter yourself, kid. You’re not my type. I like chicks.

What about the guy with the tattoos?

I fight the urge to laugh. He’s hetero, too. Dude, you’re in a juvenile facility.

"He said he’ll kill me."

He says that because he likes you, I assure him. Julio has a sick sense of humor. Now get off the bed, stop the crying, and go to group.

Group is group therapy. Where all the inmates sit around and discuss personal shit about their lives.

Tomorrow I’m getting the hell out of this place. No more group. No more cellmates. No more crappy food. No more cleaning dumpsters.

Tomorrow I’m going home.

two

Maggie

I think physical therapists like their job a little too much. I mean, why do they always look so happy and smiley as they make you sweat and wince from pain?

Sure enough, Robert, my physical therapist, is waiting for me with a big white-toothed smile in the lobby of the outpatient area of the hospital.

Hi, Maggie. You ready to work that leg of yours?

Not really. I guess so, I say, looking down at the floor.

I know it’s Robert’s job to try and make me walk better. But there’s no use in helping me walk normal because my leg is all messed up inside. The last surgery I had to fix my tibial plateau fracture lasted over seven hours. My orthopedic surgeon jokes with me and calls it a bionic leg. All I know is that I have more nails and plastic inside me than the average tool box.

When I go to Spain next semester the screeners at the airport are going to have a field day with me. They’ll probably ask me to climb inside the x-ray machine to make sure I’m not concealing a weapon inside my knee.

Robert escorts me into the physical therapy room. I have to come here twice a week. Twice a week for almost a year and still people stare at me when I walk.

Maggie, lie down and put your foot on my shoulder, Robert instructs, getting down to business-as-usual.

Sighing, I lay down on the mat and put my foot on Robert’s shoulder. He holds my foot in place and leans forward. Put pressure on it.

After the accident, all I can do is a little baby push.

Come on, Maggie. You can do better than that. I hardly feel it.

I put my forearm over my eyes. It’s never going to get better than this.

Sure it will. Look, you never believed you’d be able to walk again and here you are.

I put more pressure on my foot.

Thatta girl. Rate your pain level right now from one to ten, ten being excruciating.

Eight.

An eight?

It might even be a nine.

If you work hard now, the payoff will show later, he says.

I don’t answer, but keep the increased pressure on my foot. He leans back and lowers my foot. Phew, that’s over.

Great. Now keep your legs straight and alternate bending them one at a time.

I start with my right leg. The accident didn’t mess it up too much and the scars have healed. For the most part.

But when I have to bend my left leg, it feels like a weight is attached to it. I bend it an inch at a time. Just lifting my leg makes me sweat like a long-distance runner. The word pathetic pretty much sums up my seventeen-year-old life.

A little more, Robert says just as I’m about to lower it. What’s your pain level from one to ten?

Before I can answer a nine, his cell phone rings. And rings. And rings. Aren’t you going to answer it? I ask.

Not while I have a client. Keep bending those legs, Maggie.

Maybe it’s important, I say with hope in my voice.

If it is, they’ll leave a message. Dr. Gerrard tells me you’ll be leaving us in January, he says as I alternate legs.

Yep, I say between clenched teeth. I got a scholarship to go to Spain for a semester. I had to petition for an extension because of the infection.

Robert whistles appreciatively. Spain, huh? You’re a lucky lady.

Lucky? I am not lucky. Lucky people don’t get hit by cars and have to go through painful physical therapy. Lucky people don’t have divorced parents and a dad they see once a year. Lucky people have friends. Now that I think about it, I’m probably the unluckiest person in the entire universe.

I endure leg torture for another twenty minutes. I’m so ready to leave, but I know it’s not over. The last thing Robert does in physical therapy is massage my leg muscles. I pull down my workout pants and sit on the metal table in my shorts.

Is the redness fading? Robert asks as he rubs medicated cream on my leg with gloved hands.

I don’t know, I say. I don’t like to look at it. In fact, I’d look anywhere except my scarred left leg. It’s ugly, as if a two-year-old drew red lines with a crayon up and down my calf and thigh. But the marks aren’t from a crayon. They’re from my various surgeries after Caleb Becker hit me while driving drunk.

I try to forget about Caleb, but I can’t. He’s embedded into my brain like cancer. My nightmares of the accident have stopped, though, thank God. Those lasted for over six months. I hate Caleb. I hate what he did to me and I’m glad he’s far away. I try not to think about where he’s gone. If I think about it too hard, I’ll probably feel guilty. So I don’t think about it and trudge through my life ignoring the parts that’ll pull me under so far I won’t be able to get up.

As Robert studiously massages my leg muscles, I wince.

It shouldn’t hurt when I do this, he says.

It doesn’t. It’s just . . . I don’t like people touching my scars. I can’t even stomach touching them.

Robert examines my leg. The deep redness will fade eventually. Give it a few more months.

Robert finally announces he’s finished. As I put my workout pants back on, he writes something down in my file. His pen moves faster than I can talk.

What are you writing? I ask warily.

Just evaluating your progress. I’m requesting Dr. Gerrard come visit during your therapy next week.

Don’t panic, Maggie, I tell myself. Why?

I’d like to switch up your program.

I don’t like the sound of that.

Robert pats me on the back. Don’t worry, Maggie. We just need to come up with a physical therapy plan you can do in Spain without me.

Physical therapy in Spain? Not exactly what I imagined myself doing while overseas. I don’t tell this to Robert.

Reviews for Leaving Paradise

[heatherlinc · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A gritty story about pain, regret, forgiveness and loyalty. Ekeles writes with honesty and shows how one mistake can have devastating consequences on two families, their friendships and their lives. I liked how both Caleb and Maggie told the story as it allowed the reader to see their reactions to the same event, share their pain and watch them grow. An enjoyable read.

[chaoticbooklover · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I've had this one sitting on my shelf for over a year now. I picked it up last night after I finished unpacking to help me relax and I am so glad that I did! i literally couldn't put it down.

The chapters switch back and forth between Caleb and Maggie's point of view and we get to see just how the accident has affected both of them. With Maggie going through multiple surguries and physical therapy over the last year and Caleb being granted early release from the juvenile detention center, we get to see how being thrown back into high school affects them both.

Caleb was your average good looking jock, while Maggie was Caleb's twin sisters best friend and popular by default and her ability on the tennis court. A year later and everything has changed, Maggie is no longer popular, no longer star of the tennis court and she walks with a limp. Caleb, is now an ex-con and while his old friends don't seem to have a problem welcoming him back into the fold, they keep bringing up the accident, the one thing he really wants to forget about.

Maggie and Caleb run into each other a few times, and while Maggie is terrified of him, due to old nightmares and just the fact that he ran her over with his car, Caleb really wants her to forgive him. He paid his debt to society and now just wants to be free. They try to avoide each other as much as possible, but living in a small town and going to the same high school makes that hard for both of them.

When they end up working together at this old lady's house they start to grow closer. Both of them think that it is a bad idea, though they can't seem to not be drawn to each other. Things come to a head and they "split" up. Caleb ends up finishing the work he was assigned and completing his community srevice requirements, which gets him released. Things at home are not great for him, and we learn a secret that really changes EVERYTHING, but Caleb continues to guard this secret and ends up leaving home and Paradise. Maggie realizes what happened the night of the accident, but doesn't let it change things. The ending really has me wishing that I had the next book, and I am anxiously awaiting getting it in my addicted little hands!

[aquaorbis-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

2.2 Stars

The start to the book was great. I liked Caleb and Maggie's slow, grudging relationship that eventually blossomed into a romance despite their best efforts to remain attacker and victim. But a lot of the "plot twists" were silly and unnecessary. Also, I think this story could've so very easily have been wrapped up in one novel, but instead the ending feels cheap and rushed as the reader is thrown a totally transparent hook for a sequel.

Sorry, I'm not buying it.

[beckymmoe_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wow. This was a quick read (just over 200 pages in the ebook version), but a good one--even though it technically doesn't quite fit my requirements for books I want to read (the ending! Argh!), I still really enjoyed this one. I'm still kicking myself, though--I knew that there was something wrong with how the night of the accident really happened, there were enough clues about that one--but I didn't suspect what really happened, even though that too had clues galore. I guess I just didn't want to believe it, much like the characters themselves. I'm anxiously awaiting the sequel, Return to Paradise, to be available through the library (I'm six out of six people on the waiting list). Even though quite a few of the reviews for it were less than stellar, I'm really looking forward to seeing what the future holds for Maggie and Caleb...and of course I'm totally rooting for a HEA. :-)

[shayanasha · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I had put off reading this book for a long time... it sounded so sweet and sad and beautiful, right?

No.

I had expected more from Simon Elkeles. After falling head over heels for her Perfect Chemistry series I had expected the story to be more realistic, more relatable..... simply more. I was thoughroughly dissapointed.

The book started on an interesting premise with Caleb getting out of jail and Maggie starting school despite all her insecurities and the injury from the car accident. After the first two chapters I was hooked. A couple few pages and then everything goes downhill. I still do not understand why they fell for each other, I don't understand that if Caleb was not okay with taking the blame for the accident why he did it and yet keeps threatening Leah to expose the truth. So much for being the selfless big brother.

Most of the times I could not distinguish whether I was reading Caleb's POV or Maggie's, both of them sounding oh, so depressed and whiny. I know, I know they have a lot to be depressed about but they have to at least try to understand that the people who did not go to jail or been in an accident may have problems too. Oh, and yeah, try to move on.

I am a big fan of Ms Elkeles, but I am sorry but this book just did not work for me.

[ottilieweber-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Loved this book, Simone Elkeles is growing higher on my favorite authors! I read this right after White Cat, so the male mind was just further explored. Simohe Elkeles, creates realistic characters in this story where not everything has gone their way. That their paths are not easy to go, just like real life there are trials, bumps in the road. Caleb is coming out of DOC and trying to pick up his life before he was locked up for a hit and run on his twin sister (leah) best friend (Maggie). When he comes back he finds out that his small town has been turned upside and no one is excatly how they were when he left. Just at a time where he needs a support line his friends aren't there for him, his family is just a shell of what they use to be. With the help of an elderly lady brings him and the struggling Maggie who is trying to get through physical therapy to get to walk again together. A very touching story that made me a pile of mush afterwards! :)

[angelina0justice · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I was amazed at how quickly I lost myself in this book. I had tried to read Perfect Chemistry by Elkeles and couldn't get into the story. But the two characters in this story were real and extraordinary at the same time.

I appreciated Elkeles didn't have the characters fall into each others arms in the end. She left room for growth and healing. And, of course, a sequel.

[gayldashersmith · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very compelling. It was great until the ending. I was disappointed in that.

[specialibrarian · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Caleb has completed his prison sentence for drunkenly running over and maiming his next door neighbor, Maggie. Maggie had always had a crush on this brother of her best friend. Caleb is tries to dredeem mse, but only he knows that redemption isn't really necessary.

[jrlibrary · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Caleb Becker spends a year in juvenile detention for a hit and run accident involving his next door neighbour, Maggie Armstrong. Maggie spent the year in hospitals getting physical therapy. Now they're both out and end up working together for Mrs. Reynolds. There are some lovely twists in the novel and it does not end as you'd expect. Excellent except for language in places.

[rjgonzales_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I thought this novel was a cute, face paced and nice read. However, those in search of a fairy tale ending will be left dissatisfied. Simone Elkeles has a true gift of creating realistic fiction and skin thick characters. Truly one of my favorite authors.

[jensha_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

great read about a boy's re-entry into his family and school after being wrongly committed for drinking and driving, injuring sister's best friend

[xxlovelyxladyxx · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Okay, so this book doesn't even come close to the same league as the Perfect Chemistry trilogy but it was still a good read. The story was shocking and endearing, yet it really shows how cruel-hearted some people can naturally be to someone's disability. Maggie went through so many trials and so much pain that my heart ached for her. She did not deserve all of the bad things that happened to her and yet they kept on coming.And Caleb? Stupid boy. Sweet but stupid, especially in the end. It is blatantly obvious that they both cared for each other and shocking secrets revealed just how protective Caleb really was but god almighty still very stupid. I really liked this book a lot and I do currently own the second book however, I don't think I'll be reading it any time soon simply because when I started it, it didn't seem as good as the first book. It'll probably be awhile before I pick it up again.Rating: 4.75 out of 5 Stars

[shelleyraec · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It took me a while to get into this story, I think partly because the language lacked emotion, even though this gave Caleb an authentic voice. I wasn't expecting the alternate points of view but it worked. Initially of course all my sympathy lay with Maggie, I can understand her sense of alienation and fear based on her fathers abandoment and the accident , though I am so glad she finally shook of her self pity because it was a bit wearing. Caleb was more interesting, even though I was determined not to give him an inch, I felt for him with the treatment from his parents and once I quickly figured out the truth I liked and even admired him as well.I'm in two minds about the role played by Mrs Reynolds, I liked her as a character but the situation was just too convenient as a means of bringing Caleb and Maggie together. In fact, ss an adult reader, the majority of the plot was just too contrived and there were some plot holes that drove me crazy.However what Elkeles does do right in this novel is capture the emotion of her characters and explores teen issues well.

[hollyhox · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book has a majorly contrived plot. Yes, teenagers can be cruel. Parents can be clueless about their children. But to this extent? This book is just plain bad.

[melanie1721 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Simone Elkeles books all have a similar theme......A bad guy and a good girl and the romance that starts between them. I just love the present day, and actual realness of the story that I can't stop reading her books. This is the 3rd one I have read and I think I have one more left of hers to read. But all have been great and I love them.

[theadawn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book, like all of the other books that are written by Simon Elkeles, have two people fall in love who according to society and circumstances probably shouldn't It has family drama, the usual teenage drama and of course romance. If you enjoy his books, you'll enjoy this one for sure. The ending was well played, leaving it nicely open for the sequel which is also very good.

[thegeekygal · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Simone Elkeles does it again.Well done writing. Well fleshed out characters. I felt connected all the way through. Read it very quickly and was satisfied at the end for having read it.I liked the pacing, even if I saw something coming up ahead. It definitely made me hungry to read book 2 (although I hear it's not nearly as good as the first :( )Highly recommended read.

[thekaisu · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I can’t help but notice, since this is the third Simone Elkeles book I’ve read, but her books seem to be almost always deal with kids who are having a rough time growing up, with their lives which they think (most of the time) was royally screwed up. I am not complaining with that, but I think I see a theme here.I just can’t help but be fascinated. These books might have a central theme to it, but it doesn’t get boring. It’s not predictable. It’s not the same as the two other books I’ve read.Simone Elkeles has a knack for writing about complicated issues using simple words and conveying it effectively. She doesn’t fail to rouse emotions inside of me whenever I read her novels, and I think that’s just pure genius.I couldn’t stop myself, I’m starting Return to Paradise as soon as I finished this book, and I really want to know what happened between Caleb and Maggie. I didn’t really like the ending of this book, it felt like a lot has been left completely hanging, but I know the second book would fix all of that. I can’t wait.

[mrsderaps · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

One of the reasons why I love modern young adult lit so well is that it tackles subjects and issues that teens deal with all of the time without apology. Sure, there were some great YA authors when I was a teen, but there was nothing like Leaving Paradise by Simone Elkeles.Every year around homecoming and prom, I become nervous. I know what it's like to be a teen and I know that I made some poor choices when I was younger. But I lived through my poor choices. I worry that my teens (as in my students) will not survive theirs.Hopefully, books like Leaving Paradise will make their way into the hands of teens and show them the consequences of a seemingly small decision--driving after too many beers--in a way that allows them to work through the after affects without having to go through them personally. Leaving Paradise is about a boy who makes a life-changing decision after drinking heavily at a party. Because of his choice, which was made in a plot second, he has to spend one year of his life in jail. And the rest of his life will be spent thinking about the girl who put him there.Her name is Maggie. She was walking home after the party and did not see the car coming at her until she had already been hit. One year later, she is still in pain and her post-surgery gait draws stares and giggles from her classmates. Once popular and athletic, she is now afraid to go to school.But, when Caleb gets out of jail early, both will have to face each other and the events of that tragic evening. This is a moving book that I won't soon forget. I plan to read the sequel, Return To Paradise, so that I can see what happens with these characters.

[lost9in9stories · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Nearly one year ago Maggie was hit by a car and sustained a major injury to her leg that halted her promising tennis career and leaving her in hospital being home schooled. Caleb, Maggie's neighbour and her best friends brother, was convicted of hitting Maggie while driving drunk and driving off. Maggie had a plan to avoid seeing Caleb before he got released from juvenile detention, go to Spain on exchange, her plan was working fine until Caleb was released early and now with the new school term starting Maggie will have to see Caleb every day at school reminding her of what he did to her. What follows is a beautifully written story about two people who have both been changed by the accident and now must deal with the consequences. I absolutely loved this book! The book switched between the point of view of the two main characters Maggie and Caleb, which I thought really added to the book as we were able to see Maggie's POV of a situation and then we got Caleb POV of the same situation. It was really interesting to see how differently they saw the same situation, particularly where Maggie felt that Caleb was fitting straight back into his old life both at school and with his friends, but from Caleb POV we saw that he felt he didn't fit in there anymore and no one understood him and what he was going through. I really felt for Maggie, before the accident she had good friends and loved playing tennis, after she seems to have lost all of her friends, cannot play tennis anymore and is now an outcast at school because of the accident and her limp. My opinion of Caleb changed throughout the book, at the start I wasn't very enamored with him but as the book progressed and he had to deal with his family, friends and the consequences of his actions I did a complete 180 turn and I was cheering for Maggie and Caleb to make it together. Caleb understood that the accident changed him, and I think for the better. I don't want to give too much away but it is evident early in the book that all is not what it seems, there was more to the accident, but that's all I'll say. The ending of the book was different, it wasn't all tied up with a nice little bow on top there wasn't real closure for Maggie and Caleb as a couple, so depending on if you like closure or not you may not like the ending. That said Maggie was finally able to accept what happened to her especially with what she discovered she felt she could get on with the rest of her life now without having all this anger. Personally, I liked the ending, especially now that there is a sequel coming out this year, I can't wait to find out what happens to Maggie and Caleb next.

[ericajsc · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The premise of this book, along with the fact that I enjoyed Perfect Chemistry, is what drew me to this book. I’m not sure whether it was what I was expecting based on my preconceived notions of where the story would go or if it was subconsciously comparing it to another book, but I was left slightly disappointed.Each chapter alternates between Caleb’s and Maggie’s points of view. Normally I love books that have multiple perspectives, especially between a guy and girl, but this one didn’t quite feel right to me. There wasn’t much to distinguish between the two voices, other than the fact that Caleb cussed more frequently than Maggie. Both of them told the story so much internally that in order to tell the story we had to be able to know both characters’ thoughts, but I think it might have worked better if it had been told in third person.Although the shifts in narrator were a little off, I was pleasantly surprised at certain aspects of the story. Caleb and Maggie’s history added an interesting twist to the story that I wasn’t expecting. The pacing of the story was a little slow for my taste; despite the fact that I’m sure they would’ve avoided each other for as long as possible, it seems that that could’ve been glossed over, which would have allowed for more time telling the story after they came face to face with each other. Their relationship develops organically, and they almost don’t realize that they’re becoming friends, which I liked, but it seemed to take forever just to get to a point where they weren’t ducking around corners to stay away from each other.There are some unexpected surprises in the story that lead the characters to make some difficult decisions. This is another book that managed to pull me in more at the end than I was throughout the rest of the book, and I definitely want to read more of the story.

[ylin20621 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The novel begins with Caleb being released from juvenile jail, but with a weary eye from the authorities. Now Caleb has to figure out how to live in society once again by having to serve community service, but his options are limited in the small town. School isn’t the worst part though even when his friends would always his bring up his criminal status time after time, but it’s his family. It's the father who lets himself to be pushed around by his wife, the mother who likes to pretend that nothing’s wrong, and the sister who is now dressed from head to toe in black. But Caleb is willing to deal with it all…really…until he runs into Maggie that is.Maggie was his sister’s best friend, that is before Caleb hit Maggie while drunk driving on night that sent him to jail. The accident that left Maggie with scars after countless surgeries, missing a year of school, and feeling like the freak that looks on everyone’s face seem to say. Determined to leave town of Paradise (haha irony) and travel abroad to Spain, Maggie needs a way to pay for the trip when the scholarship she earned gets taken away.It just so happens that her mother’s boss’s grandmother needs a caretaker and it just so happens that she also needed a volunteer to help construct that gazebo. So will this become the next WWIII or the Battle of the Titans? Or will this pair become the next Cleopatra and Caeser?In what I believe to be Simone Elkeles’s writing style, she alternates between male and female POV retelling scenes through their different perspectives. This does well at making an emotional attachment to the reader and brings forth the heated tension. However Elkeles seems to write stronger through the male POV in comparison to the female’s. The male voice is much more dynamic, though I have read it seemed force, but it was much more preferable to this love-sick whiny tone I am constantly getting from Maggie.Leaving Paradise is an unsatisfying novel in my eyes. The ending steals the light I felt with the ending in its extreme abruptness—‘where’s the next page?’ abrupt—and I was left frustrated. It was only recently that there was news of a sequel and I could only think that it really needed one badly. If I had read this 3 years ago when it was first released I would have been much more brutal than I am now. I do love the twist at the end, but I do not love the fact that a friendship was so easily mended.

[59square · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This story is told through two different voices – Caleb, who hit a girl while driving drunk and then fled the scene, and Maggie, the girl he hit whose legs are permanently damaged now. Caleb has just been released from jail, and he is trying to find his way in Paradise, the small town in which both he and Maggie live. Maggie is also just returning to high school after having a year of physical therapy and trying to cope with the limp she has now. Both characters are very compelling – Caleb isn’t a bad person, just someone who may have made some bad choices. Maggie had been best friends with Caleb’s twin sister Leah until the accident, and had also had a crush on Caleb until the accident happened. Now they must find ways to become the new selves they are. This book does have some romance in it between Maggie and Caleb, but it’s not unrealistic. Maggie had always loved Caleb, so when he turns to her, there is something more there. In turn, she saves him from the pressures he feels. The end of the book has a little bit of a twist, but it’s a bittersweet twist. While the author does make the twist realistic, it’s not exactly what you want as a reader. Still a good book and one that I couldn’t put down.

[fayeflame · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

O.K. so seriously this is an AWESOME, AWESOME book. Simone Elkeles is a freak'n genius. I knew i would love this book and i did. Leaving Paradise is like...WOW. It's so raw and i can't, i mean i'm just blown away. It didn't end like i wanted it to but it ended how it was suppose to. if that makes any sense.Leaving Paradise, is a book i'm never going to forget.I was draw to the story,Caleb hits Maggie in a car accident and the only time they ever feel normal is when their around each other.I read the back and i was wondering how this two characters were going to patch up this relationship. How could they get along. I loved these characters because they had flaws and they found out how to take control their lives and learn to forgive. They had real depth. Maggie is how i want to be, she's strong and even through she is scarred for life and walks with a limp she went to school with courage, she had to put up with all those shallow people who would make fun of her. Maggie is just an awesome character.So is Caleb, he is like the protector of everything even if it means going to jail.This is one of the best books I have ever read and will love forever. I recommend it to everyone. OMG!! i just found out there's going to be a sequel. Maybe i'll get the ending i wanted after all. I so happy now.

[elizardkwik · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I have definitely learned to appreciate multiple viewpoint stories from Elkeles' books. This is a touching story that is just deep enough to have real content, but has enough light parts that is was an enjoyable read. It does end a bit abruptly...perhaps useful for writing one's own ending or as part of a discussion?