My homework saved my life. Not many people can say that but it holds true for 16 year-old Laurel and this statement is just the beginning of the many changes that are about to come into her life. Laurel and her neighbor David bowed out from dessert after they shared their family’s meal together. They let the rest of their family head out for dessert at an ice cream joint. Their families never made it back. The one vehicle accident killed all occupants and left the driver in a coma- David’s father. The guilt and reality of what has occurred is overpowering as both Laurel and David come to grips on how to deal with the shattering of their lives. Although they were neighbors the two teens have grown apart but this tragic event has brought them together but for what benefit and for how long. David, the troublemaker comes at this at a totally different angle than Laurel and the inital head-butting of the two, sets the characters apart and makes the book ideal for both males and females. The questions of why and now what, are overwhelming but also what am I now without them become a big question on both of these teens minds. Sure they had support from friends, elders, teachers, and people of the opposite sex and if they added that to their own confusion, they just needed to work things out. The working it out, that was the hard part. The book is not a happy, action-packed novel but it moves along at a good pace and kept me interested on what was going to happen next. We only meet the parents for a few pages in the beginning of the book before the accident but as David and Laurel come to grips of the future their lives are headed, we are given flashbacks to specific events in their parents and brothers lives. Its drama, it’s about moving forward, it’s about trying to find yourself when your path has been disrupted, and it’s about enjoying what you have while you have it. Do you face it or run away?
