Most Precious Blood — Susan Beth Pfeffer

You can buy a lot of things with enough money, but you can't buy the truth

After Val skips one Sunday dinner with her cousin Michelle's family, everything changes. Val and Michelle's fathers aren't getting along, and she just wanted to avoid the tension that she knew would be on the menu. Val's mom died of cancer two years ago, and now her father's love and her mother's memory are all she has.

But Michelle can't let it go, and in her anger she drops a bombshell: “You're not really family. You don't really count.” Is it true? How come no one -- not her teachers, not her classmates, not their parents -- seems surprised? Other kids at school are adopted; it's not a secret. So why hasn't anyone told Val?

Slowly Val starts to see that things are different for her. Other kids don't have bodyguards or a dad who gives them whatever they want with his piles of money. Up till now, Val has repaid her father's love by being the obedient daughter he expects, but now she needs something else: She needs the truth.