What happens when the keeper of your most embarrassing secrets starts dating your dad?Sofia wonders if 14 might be the worst possible age to lose your mom. Talking with her dad about puberty and s-e-x is super-awkward (even though he is a gynecologist). And when she wants to talk about her mom, her friends don't know what to say and her dad gets sad.When Sofia discovers Dear Kate, an advice columnist from Fifteen magazine, she's grateful to have someone to confide in about everything from crushes to mourning - someone who is completely, wonderfully anonymous. It feels ideal - until Sofia's dad introduces her to his new girlfriend, Katherine Baird, a.k.a., Dear Kate...Praise for The Speed of Life: and "The Speed of Life is the kind of book that you want to read speedily, all at once, because the characters are so engaging, the voice of the narrator pitch perfect, the situations convincingly real and raw, the humor and liveliness of the prose such fun to follow, and the feelings of that time in a teenager's life when everything can go from awful to awesome in a heartbeat are so vividly captured. You won't want to put it down. But my advice is slow down and savor this delightful book, full of carino, funny and heartfelt, and (spoiler alert) not just for teens. and " -Julia Alvarez, award-winning, bestselling author of How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents and In the Time of the Butterflies and "Carol Weston's Sofia moves beyond sorrow to all the possibilities of teen life in this wonderful book that takes us from loss to laughter. and " - Richard Peck, Newbery Gold Medalist for A Year Down Yonder and "