2011 book 235

Gabrielle Zevin's All These Things I've Done
So it's the near future (2083, by my reckoning) and it's a kind of dystopia where chocolate is illegal but otherwise things aren't too different for teenagers. Though maybe 16-year0old Anya isn't really typical--she's the orphaned daughter of a mob boss (chocolate mafia!) and her mother, who was killed in a failed hit on the mob boss. Anya and her dying grandmother are trying to hold the family together, but soon Anya is distracted by the new boy in school (who happens to be the assistant DA's son). I'm realizing that this sounds like super dramatic angsty YA and it's not--Zevin is a solid writer (I've liked all of her books) and Anya is a great character, trying to be tough. I especially liked her relationship with her sister. Anyway, the way it ends makes me think there's a sequel in the works--or at least I hope so, since I really want to know what happens to these characters next. A/A-.