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Rebecca Jean is a typical teenager dealing with high school drama created by jealousy and judgment, perceived favoritism, and strict parental rules. When she begins to channel her frustration into creative writing through an alter ego named Laney, she feels a kind of power as she shapes outcomes to her desires. But when these revenge stories begin to unfold in real life, Rebecca is shocked and uncertain of the consequences. As the school year progresses, and the stories come to life, she begins to understand how to become the person she truly wants to be. Rebecca’s journey of self-discovery follows an unusual but interesting path as she learns the ways of Reiki and the power of energy fields to heal and to alter lives.
York has managed to combine the familiar story of adolescence and girlhood with the more uncharted territory, at least for young adults, of metaphysics and quantum physics. With a deft hand, the story of Rebecca unspools with authenticity, realism, and wonder. Rebecca is every girl feeling the sting of unfairness, the bite of cruelty, and the jabs of hopelessness that run amok in the halls of a high school. The stories she writes are a means to vent but are also a way to feel powerful in a high school hierarchy designed to defeat and deflate. The revenge she imagines runs the gamut from popular girls taking tumbles and getting their hearts broken to creepy teachers getting their windshields broken. York perfectly captures the spirit of typical teenage revenge and all its mild destruction. She incorporates deep and meaningful lessons about unintended consequences, karma, and harnessing energy with our choices and actions.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review