By: Jamie Steinberg
The Free Verse Society is a mixture of love, loss, heartbreak and healing with a beautiful sprinkling of free verse poetry delicately added by author Delali Adjoa. Jae Afenyo and Derek Patel meet at just the wrong (right?) time and soon find themselves intertwined in a friendship divided by secrets and feelings neither of them are equipped to deal with at the moment. This YA romance is powerful, poignant and inspiring in so many ways.
Jae Afenyo has recently moved to Delray to live with her uncle after having given birth as a teen mom and placing her baby up for adoption. She’s eager to put that behind her and start fresh in a school that knows nothing about her past. Derek Patel is a popular jock who is struggling with his own demons as his father died in a car crash and his mother is addicted to pills and alcohol. Add in a no-good boyfriend, having to move out of his family’s nice home and a dash of annoyance at having to look after Derek and this kid has the weight of the world on his shoulders. Things get complicated when a classmate discovers Derek’s new residence and finds himself in the bathroom being threatened to stay quiet. That’s where Jae accidentally meets Derek and their “star-crossed lovers” tale begins and Derek’s downfall rises. Trying to hide his new home from his friends, Derek breaks into his former residence which now belongs to the school’s lit teacher. In order to avoid community service, his teacher offers him the chance to join the school’s poetry club – where he reunites with Jae. Neither party wants to talk about their inner demons, but find they both excel at writing down what is bottled up within them when in this club and a new set of friends that could be the tribe they both need. When the two are tasked with finding a place to host the end of the semester poetry reading, they become a lot closer – which doesn’t sit too well with Derek’s pals, his former love interest Valeria and Jae’s uncle. Can Jae and Derek lower their walls long enough to let each other in on their secrets or will Jae’s Uncle Rowan keep them apart as he thinks the boy isn’t good enough for his niece.
For those that love free form poetry, you will certainly appreciate Adjoa’s writing. She weaves heart and heartbreak so well into Jae and Derek that you just want to protect them at all costs and also encourage them to put pen to paper and let everything they have bottled up out to one another and even their new found pals in the poetry club. And as a reminder, Adjoa is darn good at free verse poetry. I expect her to have at least one of her own poetry books published at some point and I will be in line to snag a copy for myself.
To tell you if Derek and Jae find a path to one another and reconcile their pasts would be too much of a spoiler, but what I can say is the ending of the book is satisfying for those who want these two to find the love they are missing in their lives. For those that are fans of “Romeo and Juliet” or are even pro-poetry, grab yourself a copy of The Free Verse Society.