Swallowing Stones by Joyce McDonald is a book about a senior, Michael Mackenzie. Your picture perfect teenage boy. But Michael soon into the book changes his life forever  when he fires his new Winchester Rifle, that used to belong to his grandfather, into the air on his seventeenth birthday, alone with his best friend Joe Sadowski.  Michael never would’ve imagined that the bullet would go anywhere and end up killing someone.

In the story, the reader knows right away that Michael shot Charlie Ward, But the characters in the book think something else. Some of the guests at Michaels party told the police that they saw Joe holding the gun, which Joe says was true. But Joe also said he never fired the gun, that he just picked it up to look at it. Joe is the only one who knows that Michael shot Charlie Ward, and agreed not to tell anybody. Joe also covers for Michael and doesn’t rat him out when the police arrest Joe and question him.

Michael, at the time of the death, had no clue who Jenna was. But during the book he would grow to know Jenna more than she would ever know him. Michael kept watch over Jenna and her mom secretly throughout the book, cleaning their gutters, and keeping up with their yard work. Jenna and Meredith Ward had no clue who was doing these kind acts.

When all the stress gets to Michael, he doesn’t go to his current girlfriend,Darcey, for comfort. He went to Amy Ruggiero, the girl known as the school pig. Michael knew Amy had a terrible reputation, and even tried to use her like a toy before. But during the book, Michael finds out that Amy is a caring, loving person. Maybe even more than his girlfriend Darcey. The word gets out to Darcey pretty quickly about Michael and Amy, and they break up. But the story that Darcey tells Amy is way past the truth, and even kind of ruins Michael and Amy’s relationship.

Amy and Jenna meet at the movies while Amy is alone, kinda. And Jenna is on a date. When Jenna has a panic attack, Amy is the first to help her, and since then Jenna and Amy have a connection throughout the book.

Throughout the book, you hear about Michael’s daily struggles and his fight with himself. But you also hear about Jenna’s struggles with losing her father. But at the end of the book, Michael finally decides to admit to Jenna that he shot her father. But just when Jenna is waking up, the book ends.

I would definitely recommend this book to other people, it gets your heart racing in every chapter. Most people hated the ending, but personally, I loved it. When the author leaves you hanging like that, you get to  basically pick your own ending, and i loved that.