Tender Loving Care

Juliet hates the fact that her parents are divorced- and that her single, social-worker mother keeps letting her transient kid projects use their house like a flophouse. Juliet's mother lets teenage runaway Neil live in their home as he finds a job and enrolls in school. Juliet gives him the standard deep-freeze at first, until she learns of Neil's sensitivity- and his own difficult home situation. As Juliet and Neil tentatively become friends, Juliet must come to terms with her hurt and self-centeredness over her parents' divorce, and Neil with the possibility of starting his life over, and embarking on the transition into adulthood alone. Tender Loving Care is one of the better "Sweet Dreams" books I have read, and Neil's male hero is one of the most appealing. Juliet recounts her story honestly, revealing her own rocky transition into consideration and maturity. The development and resolution of this story is realistic and well-plotted. All in all, this is one of the better "Sweet Dreams" books I have read. I can't think of a single false step in it.