Darrows, Eva. Belly Up.

2Q * 3P * J * S Darrows, Eva. Belly Up. Ink Yard, April 2019. 304p. $18.99. 978-1335012357.

Serendipity, or Sara for short, and her mom are moving into their grandma's house. This will force Sara to attend a new school where she plans to study and get into an Ivy League college. Before the move, Sara goes to a party with her best friend, Devi. After seeing her ex-boyfriend with another girl, Sara hooks up with a stranger * This hookup gets her pregnant and she has no idea how to contact the stranger. Life continues, and Sara starts at her new school, continues through the pregnancy, stays in touch with Devi, snags a new boyfriend, and finds her baby daddy, and in the end everyone is one big happy family.

Darrows attempt to write a modern-day, positive teen pregnancy novel and incorporate racial, religious, and LGBTQ characters is certainly ambitious. This three-hundred-plus-page novel contains a large amount of words but very little substance, including a nonchalant attitude about being pregnant and not applying for Ivy League colleges. Many comments or behaviors meant to be funny may actually promote body shaming: Sara refers to her pregnancy as "evidence of misdeeds," giving birth as "about to launch a kid out of my wahoo," and mucus plug as "jellyfish stuff." Throughout the book, Sara rarely encounters obstacles and solves them for herself, which is crucial for well-written characters in young adult literature. This is a super light and fluffy teen pregnancy romance.--Dianna Geers.