Can kissing kill? Sammy is condemned to believe so, and her classmates are only too quick to agree. In the confusing whirl of a party, when another girl is making a hostile takeover of the boy Sammy really likes, Sammy bounces to another admirer. In a turn of events that may strain credulity at first, Sammy’s kissing partner, Alex, goes into anaphylactic shock and dies on his way to the hospital. (Alex had a severe peanut allergy, and it turns out that Sammy ate a peanut butter sandwich before the party.) New to the school and just beginning to make social strides, Sammy retreats into tortured guilt and isolation, gives up her passion of swimming, and goes into therapy. There is more to the truth, of course, and the story resolves in a believable way. Without excess heavy-handedness, Gurtler weaves a tale of collective responsibility as several teens reflect on their actions that one fateful night. A well-crafted story about a student’s fight to feel normal again when a community of peers turns on her. — Anne O’Malley
