Losing Gabriel is a YA fiction novel by Lurlene McDaniel. I grew up reading all of McDaniel's books. In fact, I still have them all on a shelf upstairs. This particular book was geared more toward a high school audience with a little more mature subject matter.
Sex: Sex is discussed pretty openly, but not too graphically. Sloan catches her boyfriend with a girl in the backseat of his car. She mentions several times that she and her boyfriend have sex. When she later ends up with Dawson, they also have sex and this results in a pregnancy.
Language: Mild to moderate. More language than other books by Lurlene McDaniel.
Drug/Alcohol Use: Dawson and Sloan drink champagne on New Years. Sloan's mother is a drunk. Sloan's ex-boyfriend dabbles in drugs and a character dies from a drug overdose.
Violence/Gore/Frightening Scenes/Death: There are a couple of deaths in this book. Also, there are several suspenseful scenes surrounding health issues with certain characters. There is also child abandonment, which could be a sensitive subject for some readers.
Final Note: Although this book was a little more mature than what McDaniel typically writes, I still thought it was a good representation of current high school life. One positive aspect is the way Dawson steps up when Sloan finds out she's pregnant. In most situations, the mom is left all alone to deal with a pregnancy, but instead, Dawson is the one who sets his dreams aside to raise a son. While there are a few things to be cautious about, overall I really enjoyed this book.
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