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-Most of this novel is based on romance, so this is a website that has many romance novels, if you liked the book i read then you will be interested in some of these books!

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-drunk driving causes a serious accident in the novel, this website explains healthy ways to prevent drinking and driving!

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The benefits of drunk driving prevention range from saving money to saving lives. Never drink and drive; find a sober friend to transport you.

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-This is a website about young love and romance. This website relates to my novel because of Wren and Cal's relationship, they are in love and very young.

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did you know

Most teenagers believe relationships start off with strong passionate desires. But teenagers are also looking for companionship and closeness when they start getting interested in relationships.

About teenage relationships

Romantic relationships are a major developmental milestone. They come with all the other changes going on during adolescence - physical, social and emotional. And they're linked to your child's growing interest in body image and looks, independence and privacy.

Romantic relationships can bring lots of emotional ups and downs for your child - and sometimes for the whole family. The idea that your child might have these kinds of feelings can sometimes be a bit confronting for you. But these feelings are leading your child towards a deeper capacity to care, share and develop intimate relationships.

When teenage relationships start

There isn't a 'right age' to start having relationships - every child is different, and every family will feel differently about this issue. But here are some averages:

From 9-11 years, your child might start to show more independence from your family and more interest in friends.

From 10-14 years, your child might want to spend more time in mixed gender groups, which might eventually end up in a romantic relationship.

From 15-19 years, romantic relationships can become central to social life. Friendships might become deeper and more stable.

Many teenagers spend a lot of time thinking and talking about being in a relationship. In these years, teenage relationships might last only a few weeks or months. It's also normal for children to have no interest in romantic relationships until their late teens. Some choose to focus on schoolwork, sport or other interests.

First crushes

Before your child starts having relationships, he might have one or more crushes.

An identity crush is when your child finds someone she admires and wants to be like.

A romantic crush is the beginning of romantic feelings. It's about your child imagining another person as perfect or ideal. This can tell you a lot about the things that your child finds attractive in people.

Romantic crushes tend not to last very long because ideas of perfection often break down when your child gets to know the other person better. But your child's intense feelings are real, so it's best to take crushes seriously and not make fun of them.

Early teenage relationships

Younger teenagers usually hang out together in groups. They might meet up with someone special among friends, and then gradually spend more time with that person alone.

If your child wants to go out alone with someone special, talking about it with him can help you get a sense of whether he's ready. Does he want a boyfriend or girlfriend just because his friends do? Does he think it's the only way to go out and have fun? Or does he want to spend time getting to know someone better?

If the person your child is interested in is older or younger, it could be worth mentioning that people of different ages might want different things from relationships.

The most influential role models for teenagers are the grown-ups in their lives. You can be a positive role model for respectful relationships and friendships by treating your partner, friends and family with care and respect. Just talking about both men and women respectfully lets your child know you think everyone is equal and valuable.

Talking about teenage relationships with your child

Your family plays a big part in the way your child thinks about teenage relationships.

When you encourage conversations about feelings, friendships and family relationships, it can help your child feel confident to talk about teenage relationships in general. If your child knows what respectful relationships look like in general, she can relate this directly to romantic relationships.

These conversations might mean that your child will feel more comfortable sharing his feelings with you as he starts to get romantically interested in others. And the conversations can also bring up other important topics, like treating other people kindly, breaking up kindly and respecting other people's boundaries.

Having conversations with your child about sex and relationships from a young age might mean your child feels more comfortable to ask you questions as she moves into adolescence.

In some ways, talking about romantic and/or sexual teenage relationships is like talking about friendships or going to a party. Depending on your values and family rules, you and your child might need to discuss behaviour and ground rules, and consequences for breaking the rules. For example, you might talk about how much time your child spends with his girlfriend or boyfriend versus how much time he spends studying, or whether it's OK for his girlfriend or boyfriend to stay over.

You might also want to agree on some strategies for what your child should do if she feels unsafe or threatened.

Young people might also talk to their friends, which is healthy and normal. They still need your back-up, though, so keeping the lines of communication open is important.

Sex and teenage relationships

If your child is in a relationship, it can bring up questions about sex and intimacy.

Not all teenage relationships include sex, but most teenagers will experiment with sexual behaviour at some stage. This is why your child needs clear information on contraception, safe sex and sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

This could also be your chance to talk together about dealing with unwanted sexual and peer pressure. If you keep the lines of communication open and let your child know that you're there to listen, he'll be more likely to come to you with questions and concerns.

Talking with your child about sex, sexuality and relationships won't encourage her to start having sex before she's ready. In fact, the opposite is true. Comfortable, open discussions about sex can actually delay the start of sexual activity and lead to your child having safer sexual activity when she does start.

Same-sex attraction and early sexual experimentation

For some young people, sexual development during adolescence will include same-sex attraction and experiences.

For 3-10% of young people, the start of puberty will mean realising they're attracted to people of the same sex. A larger number of young people might develop bisexual attraction.

If your child feels confused about his feelings or attraction to someone else, responding positively and non-judgmentally is a good first step. A big part of this is being clear about your own feelings about same-sex attraction. If you think you might have trouble being calm and positive, there might be another adult who both you and your child trust and who your child could talk with about his feelings.

Sexuality develops and often changes over time. What happens in adolescence isn't set in stone for the rest of your child's life. She doesn't have to label herself as 'gay', 'straight' or anything else. Exploration and experimentation with sexuality is normal and common. The most important thing is to be safe.

Dealing with break-ups in teenage relationships

Break-ups and broken hearts are part of teenage relationships. To make things worse, teenage break-ups might be played out in public - maybe at school, or online on social media.

You might expect your child to be sad and emotional if his relationship ends. It might not seem this way at the time, but this is part of learning how to cope with difficult decisions and disappointments. Your child might need time and space, a shoulder to cry on, and a willing ear to listen. He might also need some distraction.

Active listening can help you pick up on your child's needs. But if your child seems sad or even depressed for more than a few weeks after a break-up, it might be worth getting some advice from a health professional, like your GP.

Extra help with teenage relationships

Many people and services can help you with support and information - in person, online or on the phone. You could try:

Teenage relationships for children with additional needs

A child with additional needs has the same interest in - and need for information about - sex and relationships as other teenagers. Rates of sexual activity for young people with additional needs are the same as those for teenagers without additional needs.

Make sure your child has developmentally appropriate sex education at home and at school. Your health professional, local community resources and relevant support groups should be able to give you help or advice.

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Teenage relationships: romance & intimacy | Raising Children Network

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Most teenagers believe relationships start off with strong passionate desires. But teenagers are also looking for companionship and closeness when they start getting interested in relationships. Romantic relationships are a major developmental milestone. They come with all the other changes going on during adolescence - physical, social and emotional.

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-This is a link to Amy McNamara's website, the novel i read is actually her first book she has published.

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Amy McNamara has an MFA in poetry from the Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers. Lovely, Dark and Deep is her first novel and an ABC New Voices Pick. She lives in Brooklyn, New York. Visit her at AmyMcNamara.com.

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-The author gets interviewed and answers the questions about the main character Wren and how she handles things in the story.

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I got the amazing chance to go to Bryant Park in New York City, and interview the author of one of my favorite books of all time, 'Lovely, Dark, and Deep,' by the amazing, beautiful, and too too kind, Amy McNamara.

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-In my novel Wrens boyfriend Patrick died due to a car crash when he was intoxicated, this is a video explaining the affect it has on every one around you, drive safe!

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Stop Drunk Driving: The Life You Save Might Be Your Own… Please Share!

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An estimated 120 million episodes of impaired driving occur among U.S adults alone, each year. This contributes to filling thousands of wrecking yards. But Can You Imagine How Many Lives Get Wrecked? No Regrets, Please! Since drunk driving awareness was started in 1980, the number of drunk driving deaths has been cut in half in the U.S.A.

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-love is one of the most important things in this novel, this article explains the power and affect that love has on us. Wren and Cal have very powerful love towards each other.

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Love is the best antidepressant-but many of our ideas about it are wrong. The less love you have, the more depressed you are likely to feel.

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-This book review points out the main ideas in the novel and gives you most of the important events summed up.

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Amy McNamara's Lovely, Dark and Deep is in serious contention for being the best book I've read this year. Yes, already. It's amazing, and I would highly strongly seriously overwhelmingly recommend it to you if you haven't read it, with one caveat: this is a seriously dark and intense book about grief, mental illness, and coping with loss. It was really hard for me to read, and for those who are feeling raw, it might be a good book to wait on. Yes, it is that intense. Seriously. Read with caution.

At 18, Wren is taking refuge with her father, putting off school, life, art, and everything else in her world while she tries to deal with the aftermath of a horrific car accident that killed her boyfriend while she was seated next to him. All she wants to do is sink into the depths of winter and carve out some space to be herself and figure out who she is going to be, but everyone around her seems to have different ideas, pushing her to get a job, start doing art again, make friends, get involved, see a psychiatrist, do something.

Instead, she runs. And runs, and runs, and runs, pounding through the snow while she sorts out her thoughts. But over time, she's slowly forced to interact, through a series of manipulative moves on the part of both her parents; she meets a boy, she befriends a fellow studying at her father's studio, she starts working at the local library. But still, all Wren really wants to do is hide, and she's easily overwhelmed by everything around her.

The suffocating nature of living in a small town, where everyone knows your business and stares at you with pity, not even bothering for you to leave before they start gossiping. The overwhelming expectation that you talk, say something, anything, which pushes Wren into selective mutism. Memories of her past, in the form of flashes of events that flicker across her mind, or old photographs, or the endless replay of how things could have gone differently. Wren is drowning under the weight of grief and death, and she feels like no one around her really understands.

Lovely, Dark and Deep takes you so deep into Wren's mind that it's an intensely gripping and immersive read. This isn't an abstract book where you sympathise with the main character but still feel a kind of separation; I kind of became Wren, in a way, and I fell really easily into the grief she felt, and how she responded. The things you do in times of grief can be irrational and bizarre to outsiders, but are totally logical to you, and McNamara captured that really well here, the sense that you're trying to hold the world down before everything flies apart, and you can't understand why everyone around you is freaking out. Why can't they just chill and leave you alone when the slightest thing could imbalance the whole house of cards and send it crashing down?

Grief is something ugly and messy that many people don't want to deal with-something I've discussed here before-and McNamara confronts these attitudes here. Wren is a messy, grieving, wounded character and her grief is very raw and fresh. It may be several months after the accident, but as a reader you don't feel like she should be 'over it.' On the contrary, you start to resent the people who want her to act like nothing has happened; for those who think of grief as something that can and should be easily set aside, I think Lovely, Dark and Deep could be a really important and valuable book to read, because it contextualises grief and provides information about why some people can't 'get get over it' and why it can take time to heal.

But healing does happen, if people are patient with people who are processing a loss. People often flounder in the face of a grieving person, unsure about how to deal with the emotions and just wanting them to stop, unaware that grieving people are floundering too, and many of them need help but don't know how to ask, or are ashamed to ask, or feel like they should perform in a socially acceptable way while they're dealing with this immense thing that is trying to eat them from the inside out. Treated with compassion and support, but without the weight of expectations, Wren begins to emerge from herself, slowly, over time.

She's not magically better at the end of the book. But she's starting to see a more balanced world, one where she can live without Patrick, one where it is possible to survive while still remembering her loss. This is not a story that sets up unreasonable expectations of sudden redemption and healing; it positions grief, and dealing with it, as a process. And also shows that there are lots of approaches to dealing with grief and all of them are valid. What works for Wren doesn't necessarily suit other people, and vice versa.

Lovely, Dark and Deep also probes into some issues of physical disability beyond mental illness and issues with grief, which makes it standout among contemporary YA, as one of the main characters has a chronic medical condition. His handling speaks to a lot of important points about disability, especially in young adults; one of his big frustrations is about being treated as fragile or not-really-disabled because he's so young, and he tires of constant check-ins, worried looks, or disdain when people see the crutches he uses for mobility. As someone living with a variable condition, he also struggles with the day-to-day changes that happen when you live with a condition that's worse on some days than on others.

That he becomes an important part of the story without becoming A Special Lesson for Wren, or a project she uses to redeem herself, is so important. Both characters are represented as people who need help, and have something to offer each other as they work through their own grief; hers over the loss of her boyfriend, and his over the radical life changes he needs to face because of the onset of his disease.

Ultimately, this book is about the power of interdependence in the face of loss, and it's structured and crafted so beautifully that it becomes a luxuriant pleasure to read even as you're also feeling your heart break.

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Book Review: Lovely, Dark and Deep by Amy McNamara | this ain't livin'

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Amy McNamara's Lovely, Dark and Deep is in serious contention for being the best book I've read this year. Yes, already. It's amazing, and I would highly strongly seriously overwhelmingly recommend it to you if you haven't read it, with one caveat: this is a seriously dark and intense book about grief, mental illness, and ...

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-This is one of the famous quotes from my novel which explains the main character of Wren and how her overall feelings are throughout the book.

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Wrens dad is a artist, he spends most of his time in his art studio, and has partners that help with his career. Wren forms a close relationship with one of them and her name is Mary.

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The novel is not only depressing, true romance forms in the novel between the main character Wren and a boy named Cal.

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The novel is not only depressing, true romance forms in the novel between the main character Wren and a boy named Cal.

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The author Amy McNamara shares a review on her book.

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The author Amy McNamara shares a review on her book.

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Amy McNamara shares Lovely, Dark and Deep - Simon & Schuster Videos

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A resonant debut novel about retreating from the world after losing everything--and the connections that force you to rejoin it.

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Wren loves to ride her bike or jog through the woods near her house to get away from her problems.

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Wren loves to ride her bike or jog through the woods near her house to get away from her problems.

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Wren describes her location where the "ocean is wild".

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Wren describes her location where the "ocean is wild".

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The "upper East coast" is where Wren lives with her father.

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The "upper East coast" is where Wren lives with her father.

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I think this article is a good explaining of the mood of the novel.