(Reprint)
Lisa Schroeder is the author of I Heart You, You Haunt Me along with its companion novel, Chasing Brooklyn, and Far from You. This is her fourth teen novel in verse. She has also written two middle-grade prose novels, It’s Raining Cupcakes and Sprinkles and Secrets. She lives in Beaverton, Oregon. Find out more about Lisa and her books at LisaSchroederBooks.com or on Twitter at @lisa_schroeder.
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From the author of I Heart You, You Haunt Me, an irresistibly romantic novel in verse.
Amber’s life is spinning out of control. All she wants is to turn up the volume on her iPod until all of the demands of family and friends fade away. So she sneaks off to the beach to spend a day by herself.
Then Amber meets Cade. Their attraction is instant, and Amber can tell he’s also looking for an escape. Together they decide to share a perfect day: no pasts, no fears, no regrets.
The more time that Amber spends with Cade, the more she’s drawn to him. And the more she’s troubled by his darkness. Because Cade’s not just living in the now—he’s living each moment like it’s his last.
Told in verse and brimming with raw emotion and pure romance, this is a gracefully woven tale of life-changing secrets and unexpected friendship.
— Sarah Ockler, bestselling author of Fixing Delilah and Twenty Boy Summer
Letters from the past are interspersed into a free-verse chronicle of a crucial day for two teens who meet by chance at a beach town.
Amber heads out to the beach for a day by herself away from the family she loves, and, through a chance encounter with Cade, makes a lifetime connection, as this is also a critical day for him. Cade recognizes Amber as a child who was switched at birth in the hospital. Her birth parents have gone to court to have her live with them for half the year; the child they raised has died. Amber's anxious and angry, and somehow Cade is the balance she needs, due to his own mysterious challenges. Sometimes the poetry just tells the story, and other times it is almost too precious: "Lips on lips, / feel the heat. / Silky soft, / honey sweet."Teen jargon (including some cursing) appears just often enough to feel realistic, and it helps to keep the cloying effect of the plot line in check. Unfortunately, as the day goes on, the intensity of this brand-new relationship that's been forged in moments strains credulity. Like the limo ride from home to the beach, the connections over shared music and the secret Cade shares that makes him so vulnerable, it's all a tad overdone.
Melodrama heightened by romance.(Fiction. 12-16)