Our Song

March 25, 2013
Fraiberg (In Your Room) has written a tender and truthful story about a high school senior looking to reinvent herself after a brush with death. Everything changes for Olive Bell the night she runs her longtime boyfriend’s Mini Cooper into a pole in a near-fatal accident. Now Derek isn’t speaking to her, her mother is hovering like she expects Olive might slit her wrists, her father is keeping late hours, and her grades no longer feel important. Then Olive meets drop-dead gorgeous Nick at the Near-Death Society, a support group for people in her situation. Nick appears to know just what Olive needs to do to reconnect to the world, but he also has secrets. Olive’s waffling between Nick and Derek is at the core of Fraiberg’s story, but her subplots give it depth. Olive’s conflicts with her mother and her best friend help her make some much-needed realizations, as does a touching reminiscence with her father. Still, Fraiberg lets this story be what it wants to be: one girl’s story of finding true love and who she really is. Ages 12–up. Agent: Tina Wexler, ICM.

April 15, 2013
Having been revived after her heart stopped beating for three minutes, Olive is given a second chance at life and love. Olive tries hard to convince herself and others that she didn't drive into that tree on purpose. Even though she was devastated by her breakup with her boyfriend Derek. Even though she was speeding and she didn't slow down at the curve in the road. Alive but not well, 18-year-old Olive returns to school. Now, however, Derek has a new girlfriend, Olive's grades are slipping, and she's got this inexplicable song continually swirling about in her head. At a gathering of near-death enthusiasts, Olive meets Nick, a mercurial young man with an English accent. He makes her feel valued and beautiful, but there's something he's not revealing. There's a slim mystery threaded throughout, but this story has all the elements of a formulaic romance: Jerk boyfriend breaks girl's heart, girl meets new guy, ex comes begging back, girl has misunderstanding with new guy, true love prevails. Olive is wishy-washy, obsessive and has no real sense of self. Eventually, she begins to clear her boy-befuddled brain to better understand her family and create some goals for herself. Irritatingly, the song's mystical origins come as a stunningly anticlimactic nonrevelation. Readers looking for an undemanding beach read may find a few hours' pleasure here. (Fiction. 13-18)

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July 1, 2013

Gr 8 Up-On the night of a terrible fight with her seemingly perfect boyfriend, Derek, Olive stole his car. She ended up having an accident and was seriously injured; her heart even stopped beating for three minutes. Once she has recovered enough to return to school, she finds everything (except for her best friend, Annie) has changed: her now ex-boyfriend has a new girlfriend and students are gossiping about her. Plus, her parents and the school administration think her accident was a failed suicide attempt. Olive has no real memories of that night, but she is haunted by a song that she has never heard before that is constantly on her mind. When her mother insists that she attend a suicide support group, Olive begins to go to a group for those who have had near-death experiences instead. There she meets bad-boy Nick; he whisks her out of her depression and the stagnant world of her Vista Valley suburb. Olive is perfect as flawed character; she is often mean to her best friend and her adoring younger brother, and she can't let go of the past. The plot is almost cliched-girl and boy break up, girl finds new boyfriend, old boyfriend wants girl back, girl must choose between them-but the unforgettable and eerie quality of the song and the secrets (both those purposefully kept and those that memory can't retrieve) raise it beyond the normal teen romance.-Janet Hilbun, Texas Women's University, Denton, TX

Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2013
Grades 7-10 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 wreckso serious she died for three minutesand 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.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2013
Everything changes for Olive after a car accident results in a near-death experience. Heartbroken when her boyfriend rejects her, she then meets the mysterious Nick, with whom she feels an instant connection; and the tune that is inexplicably always in her head becomes even louder around him. Despite the interesting premise, the dull characters can't carry the tedious story.

(Copyright 2013 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)