“Sometimes we get it wrong the first time. But you only have to get it right once.”

#CBR10Bingo: Brain Candy

A year ago, Paige’s boyfriend died in a tragic drowning accident, and she is still suffering from nightmares and is known around town as “the girl whose boyfriend died”. She hasn’t been able to even get near a pool since it happened. It seems like everywhere she goes, she gets “the look” of people who don’t really see her, but just associate her with the dead boy she’d dated for two months before his life was tragically cut short.

Determined that she needs to move on and reclaim her life, Paige makes a list of tasks to achieve in the coming school year. She discovers that Ryan Chase, the guy she’s crushed on since childhood is suddenly single and with the support of her three best friends, she is convinced that she might have a chance with him. She also wants to become more sociable and go to parties, join some kind of school club, she wants to travel and scariest of all – she need to try to get back in the water and swim.

Of course, life doesn’t really neatly a neatly numbered list, and Paige’s plan soon takes a few twists and turns. Her grandmother, who has always been super supportive of Paige, and is the only one who knows about her screenwriting career dreams, is starting to take a turn for the worse. Her divorced parents (whose divorce was rather acrimonious) are now dating again – the twist – they are dating each other. While Paige’s little sister thinks this is great, Paige, who is old enough to remember how bad they were before they split up, is both upset and worried. Ryan’s cousin Max has joined their high school and convinces Paige to join the quiz bowl team, and before long, Paige is spending a lot more time with Max than with Ryan.

Full review on my blog.