Review: Replay
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 18, 2011
If you could change the past, would you?Sophomore Kelsee Lewis has been accepted to Dallas's premiere art school, Bonne.  A talented playwright, she suddenly finds the herculean task of saving the fledging creative writing program, the one to which she has just been admitted, thrust upon her shoulders.  And she only has a week to do it.  In addition she's dealing with an emotionally-distant mother, a relationship with a bestie that seems to be dissolving, a crush on the cutest guy in school who just might be interested, a new friendship with a boy who believes in the unbelievable and a series of panic attacks that appear to stop time.  With all the new changes and pressures in her life, Kelsee suddenly finds her new ability very useful.  But what will changing the past mean for her future?From the first few pages of Replay I knew I was going to like this book. The combination of the unique screenplay-inspired, "setting the scene" chapter intros and the main character's snarky, imaginative internal monologue made this book memorable and enjoyable. I don't often react audibly to books, but I actually found myself hysterically laughing out loud at some parts.  I loved Kelsee. She was a great, engaging, dimensional, ultra-quirky character who just jumped off the page and won me over instantly with her awkward, lovable, SNL-inspired humor. Also, the relationships between Kelsee & her mother and Kelsee & Miranda were well developed and I loved the realizations Kelsee came to regarding these relationships as she came to better know herself throughout the story.  What she ultimately does with those realizations is very interesting.The paranormal aspect of this story is very intriguing as well; however I was hoping for it to be fleshed out a little bit more in regard to the technicality of how it worked and the ramifications of her ability.  Regardless, time travel stories are always logically tricky, at times very convoluted, and frankly make my head hurt to think about all the theoretical outcomes and consequences.  Replay, however, did not require Ibuprofen to figure it all out; it had a well-thought out plot and was easy to follow.I'm interested to know if this was a stand alone novel or if we'll get another peek into Kelsee's world in another book? I hope so. I want to hear more of her story and while I'm making requests, I want more of Quinn as well. Lea is definitely an Indie author to keep your eye on.<cue standing ovation>