Our Song
Welcome to Vista Valley, land of manicured lawns and country clubs. It’s home to Olive Bell, a high-school senior bound for Georgetown who, prior to an accident, had a seemingly perfect life and boyfriend, Derek. But Olive has just survived a serious car wreck—so serious she died for three minutes—and now her relationship with Derek is over. Everybody, including her mother, thinks she crashed the car on purpose, but readers won’t actually learn the details of that stormy night until the very end of the novel (or why she now hears song lyrics play on repeat in her mind). To appease her parents and the school counselor, Olive starts attending a support group. She chooses the Near-Death Society, and it’s there that she meets handsome but troubled Nick. Many readers will want to shake Olive, an insecure girl who seemingly needs a Derek or a Nick to feel complete, but they’ll be heartened as she takes steps toward loving herself. There’s nothing terribly unique here plot-wise, but romance fans who enjoy floppy-haired, mysterious boys with English accents (and who doesn’t?) won’t be disappointed. Grades 7-10. --Ann Kelley