by Sarah Dessen
ages: 13+
First sentence: “I taped the commercial back in April, before anything had happened, and promptly forgot about it.”
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Annabel’s life is perfect. Or, at the very least, it seems that way. She’s a model, she lives in a beautiful house, and until last May, she had a popular best friend in Sophie. Then…well, let’s just say everything falls apart. Sophie is on a vendetta against Annabel, everyone is looking at her (and not in a good way) and talking about her. On top of that, her older sister is dealing with anorexia. And it’s all Annabel can do to keep all the bad stuff in and everything looking perfect on the outside.

Then she meets Owen. Owen, who has anger management issues. Owen, who is so passionate about music that he listens to things that ordinary people won’t consider to be music. Owen, who is honest — almost brutally so. Owen, who may be exactly what Annabel needs to get through everything that’s been going on in her life, if she’ll only listen.

I think this is my favorite Dessen so far. (In fact, I let K watch more than her share of TV yesterday, as I read the book in one sitting.) Yeah, there’s a lot of issues going on in here, but Dessen handles them beautifully, without being heavy-handed. Which, I suppose, is one of the reasons she’s so popular. It’s some tough subjects, but they’re always treated with compassion.

But, more than that, I absolutely loved her characters. From Owen who is just made of awesome to his friend Rolly who is so cute I just wanted to wrap him up and put him in my pocket. Annabel herself was admirable — considering all the crap that went on in her life, she managed it quite well, and very, well, realistically. At any rate, I adored them all.

I’m beginning to see why Dessen’s so popular.