I Heart You, You Haunt Me by Lisa Schroeder

Age Level: Teen
Format: Book

Girl meets boy. Girl loses boy. Girl gets boy back...sort of.

Ava and Jackson are in love. They go everywhere together, do everything together, share everything. Then, Ava's fifteen year old world falls apart when Jackson dies; and, Ava thinks she caused his death. Written in verse, this book takes readers through Ava's thoughts and feelings about the accident and about the aftermath. Oh, did I mention that Ava's dead boyfriend seems to hang around Ava, playing music, touching her, kissing her, enveloping her house in his sandalwood scent, not willing to let her go? Ava must make a choice: move on with her life, or keep her ghost boyfriend with her forever.

Schroeder weaves first love and tragic loss into a beautifully revealing book about loss and picking up the pieces. Fans of Sonya Sones' style of writing, what is termed as verse novels (or novels written in prose format), will enjoy this book. This is definitely one storyline that will "haunt" me for quite awhile.

Reviewed by Jessica

Remember Me? by Sophie Kinsella

Age Level: Adult
Format: Book

Imagine waking up in a hospital room to discover your mind has blacked out three years, and everything is different about your life. Lexi Smart finds herself in this predicament in the latest "chick lit" novel by Kinsella, best known for her Shopaholic series. Lexi's last memory is an evening on the town with her friends in 2004. She wakes up in 2007, learning she's been in a car accident, she drives a Mercedes, works in management at her job, lives in a loft-style apartment, and has an extremely handsome (and extremely rich) husband. Sounds like the fairy tale life, right? At least Lexi thinks so, until she begins to realize that she does not recognize the person she has become - her friends hate her, her staff calls her the Cobra (among other more colorful names), and she may or may not have been having an affair with one of her husband's colleagues. Readers follow Lexi on her journey through recovery, putting the pieces of her new life together, and discovering the true meaning to the words "success" and "happiness."

I enjoy reading Kinsella's Shopaholic series, and could not wait to try one of her stand alone novels. I was not disappointed. Kinsella uses her magic in the genre of chick lit (humorous books about women making it in the real world) to create Lexi Smart, a character both flawed and likable. There are some laugh-out-loud scenes, so be careful where you read this!

If you like light and fluffy books, or you need something to read to escape from reality, try Remember Me?.

Reviewed by Jessica

Remembering Raquel by Vivian Van Velde

Age Level: Teen

Format: Book

 

Raquel is, from the first page of this book, dead.  She was the kind of girl, as one of her classmates remembers, who had a tendency to be invisible.  At least, she was invisible until one night, when she was hit by a car and killed.

 

In brief chapters, we hear about Raquel’s life and how one seemingly disconnected girl made an impact on the lives of her classmates.

 

This is a story of how one life, no matter how small or insignificant it seems, affects the life of others in a community.  Raquel is a girl who doesn’t really know anyone at the school she goes to.  Only a few people seem to be directly affected by Raquel’s death – Hayley, her best friend who goes to a different school; her online fantasy gaming community; and her father, who is still mourning the death of Raquel’s mother.  But even though these few people are seemingly the only ones that would be affected, an entire community is, as we find out by reading this book.  There are over a dozen narrators, with each chapter a new person – the popular kid, the grandmother, her father, and even the lady who hit Raquel – each one tells their story, their remembrance of how her death affected them.

 

It’s a small book, but it truly shows how every action, no matter how small, will affect how we are remembered.

 

Reviewed by Sara