Synopsis: When Naomi wakes up in a hospital bed, she has no idea how she got there or what has happened during the last three and a half years other life. She doesn’t remember that her parents are divorced,or who her friends are at school, and she doesn’t even know it she has a boyfriend or not. When Naomi gets back to school she starts piecing the fragments of the last three and a half years together, and soon it is clear that she may not want to be united with her past quite as she left it.

Review: Teenagers who would like to change who they are and have the chance to reinvent themselves will like this book. A serious head injury sounds like something best avoided but Naomi gets a chance to rediscover who she is, leave out the bits she doesn't like and put right some of the things she has done that she wishes she hadn't, all quite legitimately as she has no memory of the past four years. This includes finishing with her boyfriend when she realises that they have nothing in common and she can't remember why she is going out with him. Forced to evaluate all her relationships, she has only her current feelings to judge situations on. She is now sixteen, rather than the younger child whose jealousy and anger created difficulties between her and her father's fiancee. Now she can see the happiness that Rosa Rivera has brought him and the pain that her own refusal to see her mother has brought. This, perhaps, makes it sound moralistic but it is done with a light touch.

The book is fast paced, and with a happy ever after ending and a little rebellion, will be a satisfying read for young teenagers. It isn't deeply challenging or life changing but the relationship between Naomi and the rather eccentric Will, is carefully drawn. The reader's sympathy is very much with him as Naomi has forgotten their first tentative steps from friendship to love. The teenage relationships in the book all put emphasis on the importance of friendship first before developing anything further and humour is also shown as an integral part of a good relationship. Although this novel  is set in an American High School it is a step up from many of the series in that setting but girls who are familiar with the High School vocabulary, 'The Year Book', the 'Prom','semesters' will find it accessible and enjoyable.

2008-04-12