Kaylee Glass had made a huge mistake and it's going to cost
her. Possibly money, but most probably her parents' trust.
After the last time she'd gotten in trouble at school, she
promised to reform. Now, here she is with her dad's ATM
card in her pocket, across town when she's supposed to be
in school and there's a blackout, making it impossible for
her to get home in time.
Not only is the blackout challenging (she's in New York
City), but Kaylee has synesthesia -- the connections to her
brain don't work in a usual manner. Sometimes she smells
things when people talk, or sees things in different colors
than they really are. Desperate to get away from the boy
who almost tricked her into using her dad's ATM card, she's
trying to get back to Brooklyn and finds herself dependent
on a boy she just met. She follows Ramon, whose voice
smells like honeysuckle, and meets his smart-aleck sister,
runs into carjackers and is continuously stalked by the boy
trying to steal from her.
While there seem to be several sub-plots going on in this
book, the thing that really grabs the reader is the
characterization. Kaylee is a struggling teenager who
brings back all those insecure feelings from the teen
years. Ramon is a cocky, cute and generally good kid with a
terrific sense of responsibility. You'll find yourself
rooting for the two of them as they run into challenges
that most teens never have to deal with. While I liked this
book, I didn't like it nearly as much as Ms. Nash's BEAMER
O'BRIAN'S ABSOLUTELY GINORMOUS GUIDEBOOK TO GUYS. I felt as
if the scary situations were a little overblown -- but as I
said, the characters definitely make it worthwhile.