His Teen Dream — Devon Vaughn Archer

From the bestselling author of the coming of age novel, HER TEEN DREAM is an exciting and powerful new young adult novel, HIS TEEN DREAM. First in a series, it explores such contemporary issues as teen romance, friendship, relocation, and dating violence. Lex Haskell, sixteen, moves to Lake Charmanie, California, with his mother and stepdad, while still trying to come to terms with his parents' divorce. On his first day at Charmanie Hills High School, Lex is stunned to see Taylor Clawson, his grade school girlfriend whom he had not seen in six years. She is gorgeous. He is disappointed when she appears not to recognize him by name or appearance. Later, they do reconnect, sort of. Taylor has a jealous boyfriend, Blake Reed, the school football star. Lex senses that Blake more than Taylor wants to keep their friendship at a distance. Fortunately, Lex is distracted as he begins dating Greta Holden and joins a band. However, Lex soon begins to suspect that Taylor is being physically abused by her boyfriend. But can he prove it amidst her denials? And, if so, at what price to their friendship and whatever might have come of it? Taylor Clawson is bright, beautiful, and dating Blake Reed--one of the hottest guys at school. But she's also keeping a secret. He hits her, often without warning, when he's angry, jealous, or simply having a bad day. Her parents think he practically walks on water, as do most of her friends. Except, that is, for Lex Haskell, the boy she shared her first kiss with at age ten. She never expected to see him again after Lex and his family moved from San Bernardino. Now he had also ended up in Lake Charmanie and was even hotter as a teenager. But she would do well to keep her distance from him, for Blake hated to see her around other guys, even for friendship. She feared what he might do to her or Lex if they were they to become close again. Then there was the fact that Lex was seeing another girl. Taylor didn't want to mess things up for him. She couldn't deny, though, that the connection between her and Lex had not gone away. But maybe it should, for more reasons than one. This realistic coming of age tale of nostalgia, conflicting emotions, attending a new school, budding romance, friendship, teenage abuse, and dealing with it will resonate with teenage and young adult readers.