The Take-over Friend

Fitzroy Press, October 2022

- Forward Review 2022 INDIES finalist

What does it mean to have a best friend? For Frances and Sonja, it’s everything. Until their friendship doesn’t leave room to grow.

On the second day of ninth grade, introverted Frances meets Sonja, a witty and outgoing newcomer recently moved from France, and the girls become instant soulmates. The two teens are euphoric about their blossoming relationship, relishing a depth of understanding for each other they’ve never experienced with anyone else. Frances is charmed by Sonja’s energy and worldliness, while Sonja adores Frances’s sense of calm and dependability. She’s also taken with Frances’s close-knit family, especially her older brother, Will. Led by Sonja, the girls declare their goal to become “visible” at their high school, dubbing themselves “The Poets” and rallying their classmates to enter the homecoming parade with a poetry-mobile built from Frances’s father’s old band bus.

But as their friendship grows, so do the expectations. Family crises impact both girls—Sonja’s parents are caught in a bitter divorce, and Frances’s father suffers from bipolar disorder. When Sonja’s mother attempts suicide, Sonja temporarily moves in with Frances and her family.  Sonja’s dominating personality begins to overwhelm Frances, causing her to doubt herself and her own talents. And when Sonja’s infatuation with Will becomes obsessive, Frances feels manipulated and attempts to set some boundaries. For Sonja, there is no middle ground, and she sees Frances’ efforts to regain her independence as the ultimate betrayal. 

 The Take-Over Friend powerfully explores themes of guilt, jealousy, possessiveness, and the difficult task of staying true to oneself.  In the same vein as Hayley Krischer’s The Falling Girls and Anne Fine’s The Tulip Touch, Dines’ new novel weaves together the beauty and pain of friendship and growing up.

"Fun, funny, and eloquently touching, "The Take-Over Friend" by Carol Dines (with its underlying message about the importance of finding your own voice in relationships) will prove to be an immediately popular addition to middle school, high school, and community library YA Fiction collections for young readers ages 12-17.”
- Midwest Reviews, December, 2022

An intense high school friendship turns toxic. At the beginning of ninth grade, Frances meets cosmopolitan new girl Sonja, welcoming her friendship as her former best friend recently moved out of Minneapolis to the suburbs and they quickly lost touch. Frances is instantly drawn to Sonja, and it is the first time that she feels seen. In Sonja she recognizes what she hopes to become. But red flags soon appear, with Sonja telling her who she should and shouldn’t be friends with and what school activities she should participate in. Starting with her inviting herself over for a sleepover, Sonja begins inserting herself into Frances’ family: befriending Frances’ father, who has bipolar disorder; dating her brother; and getting jealous when Frances’ older sister returns from college for Thanksgiving and Frances wants time alone with her. Though she knows things are a bit off, Frances, whose father’s nickname for her is “Easy-One,” is reluctant to shake up the status quo. She admires Sonja and likes how she feels brave and empowered because of their relationship. The characters are realistically drawn, and there is an authenticity to their motives. Readers will feel empathy for Frances as Sonja seems to easily take over her life; when Frances does stand up for herself and her family, the scary consequences are deeply felt. Main characters are White, and both Frances and Sonja have one Jewish parent. An absorbing cautionary tale of problematic friendship. (Fiction. 12-18)
- Kirkus, August 15, 2022

“This book is for everyone who’s ever longed for, loved, lost, or been betrayed by a friend. All the sweetness, sorrow, joy, pain, and anguish of friendship found and lost is layered into this luscious cake of a story. Slathered with suspense and liberally sprinkled with humor, it’s so deliciously bittersweet, you’re likely to gobble it up in one sitting.”
- Margi Preus, Newbury Honor author of Heart of the Samurai,Village of Scoundrels, and Lily Leads the Way

The Take-Over Friend rings with authenticity. It’s an honest and moving look at the difficulties and rewards of friendship, the love and complications of family, and the joy and uncertainty of growing up. Carol Dines treats challenging subjects like mental illness and its impact on friends and family members with nuance and depth. I read the whole book in one totally immersive sitting, rooting for Franny. She’s a character you hold close in your heart.
- Eve Yohalem, author of Escape Under The Forever Sky and The Truth According to Blue

“Equal parts wry and heartbreaking, The Take-over Friend deftly and seamlessly weaves a compelling story about the complex nature of adolescent friendship with a deep and thoughtful dive into the impact of mental illness on one family. A timely, moving, and thought provoking novel.”
- Gary Eldon Peter, author of Oranges and The ComplicatedCalculus (and Cows) of Carl Paulsen

“Carol Dines perfectly captures the intoxication and relief that can be found in an intense new friendship, along with the little warning signs that are easy to dismiss when all one wants is to be swept up in the thrill of that bond. Narrator Franny is both vulnerable and wise, self-doubting and self-aware, and her family, with its imperfections and unshakable love, will quickly become as real to readers as their own. When charismatic Sonja finds their fissures and uses them as points of entry, it’s hard not to worry for everybody and impossible to stop turning pages. The Take-Over Friend is a beautiful, layered novel about what can happen when we ignore our own inner wisdom. It will live inside readers long after they reach the last page.”
- Ona Gritz, author of Present Imperfect,Tangerines and Tea and Starfish Summer

“How many of us have fallen for that teenage friendship, alluring and dangerous all at once!  The Take-Over Friend is engaging and heart stopping -- wonderfully written about trusts broken and boundaries crossed…”
- Judith Katz, author of The Escape Artist and Running Fiercely Toward A High Thin Sound

This Distance We Call Love

Orison Books, August 2021

- Winner of the Eric Hoffer Book Award
- Finalist for the National Indies Excellence Award
- Finalist Feathered Quill Award Short Fiction
- Readers Choice Finalist

"Each of her stories in This Distance We Call Love (Orison Books) is a powerful elbow to the gut, which leaves you eager for the next situation, the next cast of characters, the next elbow. She zeroes in on family, trust, marriage, fear, sex, loss, abandonment, and the strength and danger of a child’s imagination. 13 stories that are as different in focus as they are alike in emotional power.”
- Booktrib, 2022

“There is not a single weak link in this outstanding collection, which calls to mind the most uncannily wise and funny and emotionally piercing work of Paley and Porter and Smiley.”
- Kevin McIlvoy and Christine Hale

“A truly memorable read with deftly crafted and thought-provoking stories that will linger in the mind and memory long after the book itself has been finished and set back upon the shelf, "This Distance We Call Love" is especially and unreservedly recommended for personal reading lists, as well as community, college, and university library Contemporary American Literary Fiction collections.”
- Midwest Review, 2021

“The foibles of human intimacy are writ large in these powerful stories where irony and empathy collide. Carol Dines is a writer for our times, delivering masterful, unsettling, and utterly convincing fiction that reveals what is real and heartfelt with unflinching veracity. This Distance We Call Love addresses the universal need for human connection by considering new pathways for understanding and compassion.”
- Patricia Cumbie, author of The Shape of a Hundred Hips and Where People Like Us Live

“Carol Dines is a merciless, tender excavator of the human heart. Fans of Lorrie Moore and Alice Munro take note, each of these stories is a delicately calibrated wonder of pain, joy, and transformation.”
- Adrian Van Young, author of The Man Who Noticed Everything and Shadows in Summerland

“Carol Dines brings a poetic eye and the voice of a seasoned storyteller to This Distance We Call Love. With family at the core, her stories circle around couples, siblings, friends, all wanting to love more, love better, yet fearing they don’t quite measure up. Dines conveys the resilience of people who accept that not every dream comes true, who risk knowing what they cannot change, and yet learn to accept that if they fail—and fail they will—there will be second chances. These tender, beautifully wrought stories take us to the edges where things fall apart, a landscape of fraying marriages, grief, loss, doubt. And then they bring us back to love.”
- Miriam Karmel, author of Being Esther and Subtle Variations

"As we emerge from months of isolation because of the pandemic, we’re all taking a new look at relationships, especially within families. The 13 stories in Carol Dines’ luminous new collection are not specifically about the pandemic, but they do explore the loneliness and isolation between husbands and wives, parents and children, and siblings….Dines’ talent is in immediately creating believable characters on the first page of each story, and her stories have arcs—beginning, middle, and end—unlike some short stories that don’t go anywhere. She drops in dialogue exactly when necessary to move the story…."
- St. Paul Pioneer Press, 2021

“Dines has created something beautiful and relatable. She opens a window into everyday lives and showcases their value through small moments of humor and sadness. The connections and relationships that make the world go around even when they aren’t perfect are well represented in this book.”
- Rochester Post Bulletin, 2021

The Queen's Soprano

Harcourt Publishers, May 2006

"Life in 17th century Rome is difficult for a beautiful and exceptionally talented girl, especially one born to a humble family...What follows is a series of intrigues and dangerous encounters as Angelica seeks to chart her own course among powerful, opposing factions...The novel is genuinely gripping....will ring true with today's young readers."
- Voya, 2006

"Carol Dines has penned an elegant work of historical fiction that will move young adult readers...."
- Book Loons, Canada, 2006

"...plenty of amour and peril to keep the pages turning. It's hard to resist a girl up to her golden throat in intrigue, and YAs looking for offbeat historical fiction should be engrossed. "
- School Library Journal, 2006

"There are rich details of food, dress, manners and habits overlaid with much political intrigue, and nearly all the characters, including the composer ArcAngelo Corelli, are historical figures...Riveting in both action and description."
- Kirkus, 2006

"Intricately layered historical novel explores the obstacles faced by talented women in this time period. 17-year-old Angelica gives impromptu concerts while hidden inside her home, her voice floating down through the closed shutters to the crowd beneath her window. A clandestine relationship with a French art student, who sends Angelica love notes via her maid, and a queen who defies the pope to give Angelica and others like her freedom to perform, add intrigue to the colorful tale."
- Star Tribune, 2006

"Gifts and talents, while wondrous to possess, may also possess the owner. Angelica Voglia's musical talent beguiles the poor and the powerful, the peasant and the priest. Nevertheless, the pope has decreed that it is illegal for women to sing in public. The time is 1670, and although Pope Innocent XI rules most of Rome, there is yet one quarter where musical performance by ladies is encouraged and enjoyed by all who are invited to listen. The patron of this court is Queen Christina's intrigue, death, attempted rape, betrayal, loyalty, pride, and shame blend as the story reaches a memorable crescendo. Dines' absorbing novel is based on a true story that she discovered in an old library book in Rome."
- From The Critics, Children's Literature, 2006

Talk To Me

Delacorte, 1997

"The six stories and novella that make up this collection offer wonderfully intimate and realistic portraits as protagonists deal with romance, family, job, and school troubles. The plots are very different, ranging from one about growing up in rural Minnesota as the son of a lesbian couple to one concerning the painful silence surrounding a mother's bout with cancer. Dines incredibly real dialogue, captures the frustration of silence surrounding a mother's bout with cancer. Dines incredibly real dialogue, captures the frustration of adolescence and puts readers right into the narrator's consciousness."
- Booklist, 1997

"Talk to Me is a wonderfully honest look at teenagers today. The six short stories and one novella deal with seven young adults who are trying to figure out who they are and where their place is in the world. Their stories are fresh, vivid and true to life."
- VOYA, 1997

"A collection of clear-eyed stories that are full of promise. Families wrestling with the rest of life as well as adolescence, in stories that hone in on a moment in time and map from it a future of myriad possibilities."
- Kirkus reviews, 1997

Best Friends Tell The Best Lies

Delacorte, 1989

"In this funny wise novel Leah meets the exciting sophisticate Tamara, who is prone to outrageous costumes and comments – she airily asserts that her mother is a murderess, having killed off a series of ex-husbands for their insurance money by feeding them cholesterol-laden meals. The fact that Leah's mother disapproves of her daughter's new friend serves only to heighten her appeal. Dines accurately captures tumultuous adolescence as she portrays Leah sometimes chafing under the restrictions put on her, sometimes yearning for the security of her childhood. Written in a strikingly authentic adolescent voice."
- The Horn Book, May 1989

"An excellent character study, has a plot which will capture its audience from the outset."
- School Library Journal, starred review

"The rich texture of the narrative and provocative character development highlight this intricate and intriguing novel."
- Publishers Weekly, February 1989