It consumed me (my day, my thoughts and the life around me); did I really have anything else to do today besides read this book? But wait, it’s almost over, my fingers are thumbing through the final pages, no…. this cannot be happening! I’m not ready for this to end, another ending to one of Jessica Warman books, but I want to know more. I want to witness the friendships as they mature or dissolve. I want to see what happens to Katie’s family. I feel so connected to all the characters, as if they my own friends. I want to see who really makes it in the “real world.” Jessica’s ability to capture such detail and true emotions in her writing has got me again as I close another one of her books. It all started with Katie. Her life seemed normal, or well she thought it was until her brother started having schizophrenic episodes and her parents send her off to boarding school to “keep her safe”. She lies to everyone and tells them that her brother is dead so she doesn’t have to deal with questions, labels and anything else she feels has to do with having a brother with this disorder. Being accepted now, she fits right in, as much as can be expected as she living a lie, and she makes friends with the some of the popular kids. There’s smoking, drinking and drugs- which no one seems to get in much trouble for as money talks. Katie swims to help clean her mind of all the messages that go through her head and that is her release in life and she is good at it. But when her other bad habits start to invade this release for her they have consequences and Katie needs to decide what route she is going to take. Is she willing to give up her swimming to be with the popular kids? What happens to her family and the lie that she is living, will it catch up with her and how does that affect her? Her roommate Mazzie is the character I liked the most in the book. I think she provokes Katie the most to think about herself and she seems to be the person who does her own thing. Sure she is messed up (who hides in a cabinet) but she is also the character who speaks up and says the things on her mind. This is another great book by Ms. Warman- she is definitely one of my new favorite authors this year. I’m excited to hear she has another one coming out at the end of this year- I will definitely be picking that one up. Mazzie: “Estella, a person can have more money than God, and they can know all the right people, and they can be beautiful and ambitious. But if they don’t have any human decency, then I don’t care who they are or what they have. They’re trash.”
