Brooklyn, New York - Present Day

Jesse, Abigail, Randall, and Kate have been best friends since elementary school, comfortable in the roles they have played for all these years. But, when their favorite hangout, the One Trick Pony coffee shop, reopens under new management, these four lives will be turned upside down. Jesse is a one-night-stand kind of guy, cruising through life basically on his own, since his parents are always away shooting one film or another. Realizing that the coffee shop is reopening, he asks the new owner, Caroline, if he can get his old job as barista back, and quickly finds himself entranced by his new boss. Abigail is still struggling with the death of her mother, when her father and his new girlfriend decide a fresh start is just what their little family needs. Always the compliant daughter, Abigail sees her familiar life slipping away and finds herself turning to her best friend, Randall, for comfort more often than her boyfriend. Randall, an aspiring musician, is so afraid of rejection that he can’t motivate himself to cut the demo that a popular manager has asked for -- nor can he tell Abigail that he loves her. Kate is very sure of what is best, not only for her life, but also for the lives of her friends, yet suddenly they are changing the rules on her. Her friends aren’t as willing to listen to her advice, and Kate blames Caroline.

All of the friends find themselves changing, maturing into the adults they will someday be, but will their friendship survive?

ONE TRICK PONY is an interesting book that, at its core, is about teenagers growing up. While Kate -- with the help of her somewhat overbearing mother -- is aggressive to the point of bossiness, the other three friends are content to let their lives drift along with little direction. As each of them starts to see things differently, they gradually begin to change, and they not only have trouble dealing with the changes in themselves, but in their friends as well.

An engaging tale whether you are a young adult or young at heart, check out ONE TRICK PONY.

Jennifer Bishop