Far From You, Lisa Schroeder

Lisa Schroeder's second YA verse novel tagline says it all--"Do you believe in angels?" Alice has lost her mother to Cancer and her dad has remarried, and expecting a baby. So opens the novel in verse. Lisa's book explores, family, friendship, anger, jealousy, profuse hurt and love. The only thing that keeps Alice sane is her music and her absolute adoration of her boyfriend, Blaze and her best friend, Claire. But everything starts unraveling when Blaze likes Alice's stepmom, Victoria and thinks the new baby is good addition to the family. Alice thinks that her father will forget the memory of her mother because of a new family. Claire lets Alice know that her music is becoming even more depressing and thinks she should stop writing it. Lisa deftly explores what is important in a teenager's life especially one who has lost her mom and feels alone in the world. When the family goes on a trip to California for the Thanksgiving holiday, Alice is resentful. When dad gets called away to a conference in NY, she has to drive home with stepmom and new baby sister, Ivy. Things come to a head when they get extremely stuck in a blizzard. But in order for Alice to survive with baby Ivy, Victoria needs to go out and search for help. But does Alice also have a guardian angel looking out for her? I'm very new to the novel-in-verse, so I am amazed at how fleshed out her characters are. The flow of the verse makes it a quick read, but one needs to be careful with that as well. If you read too fast, you miss the beautiful language of the story. I am a HUGE fan of Lisa's and hope she continues with her novel-in-verse. I know she's also got a YA book coming out sometime next year that will be done in normal book style. She is also the author of Novel-in-verse, I HEART YOU YOU HAUNT ME and picture book, BABY CAN'T SLEEP. FAR FROM YOU is published by Simon Pulse and will be released on December 23, 2008.