Sylvia DeSantis

Katastrophe Sylvia DeSantis

Who has the energy to care about a new year of AP classes or even the prestigious Northeastern Computing Competition when life constantly spins you sideways? Not Kat Morgan.

Lately, everything feels like a catastrophe...school isn't working, her parents are a mess, and Joey--summer mistake and Chem Lab partner--taunts her constantly. Not even her best friends can help. Kat remembers what things were like before: before she learned about Dad's girlthing in Amsterdam, before Joey screwed up her life with a car ride, but mostly before she discovered the need to rework her body with deliciously sharp things.

Kat has become a girl whose skin she can barely stand to wear.

Although she finds a confidante in her neighbor, Tia, the glassblower with her own scar so profound she can't stop staring, Kat still gets stuck seeing a counselor, Dr. Lily Caleno. Kat eventually comes to trust Lily, sort of, with her too-many hoops and stunning music collection, not quite realizing that Lily's perception and unorthodox ways stem from her true identity--an angel with a mission. Lily's deep commitment to the broken humans of Marshall High, offered up in her brilliant blue office and partnered with a fierceness only an angel could wield, both soothes and provokes Kat.

When Joey's poor judgement and a cruel school prank force Kat into action, Lily offers Kat support wrapped in angelic wrath, forcing Kat to look straight into the despair her own actions have caused. Knowing that humans often make the absolute worst decisions, Lily helps Kat move forward with choices that will either sink her or maybe, with a little courage, help her rebuild her life again.