Bryce Graham, seventeen, is a champion diver and could be headed to the Olympics. Her best friend, Gabby is in the stands holding her breath alongside Bryce's devoted guy, Greg. At this moment, Bryce is poised on the end of the diving board ready to launch herself into the future with all of her dreams coming true. In the same moment, there at the back of the stands, is a man from out of town, sipping a Coke and waiting in the silence with the rest of the crowd as Bryce takes her final leap, sending out a slight breeze but miscalculating by an inch and filling the pool with the warm red spread of her blood.
Five years later Bryce wakes up from a coma and finds a whole new world. The lives of her parents, her sister, her best friend and her boyfriend have all moved forward in unexpected directions. Can Bryce find her way? Can she accept the changes? Will she have the strength to rebuild her identity without being an Olympic bound diver? How does she know things .... things that she should not be able to recall or miraculously predict?
This is a story of finding yourself, of growing, of sisterhood, and of falling in love. It's also a story of the miracle of the human brain and its resilience and hidden secrets. It's one of those yummy reads that satisfy the romance gene and require a tissue or two. Fun and fulfilling as a batch of brownies. Written precisely for those who loved the movie An Affair to Remember. When you're in the mood for something with romance, something that will work that who am I muscle and can I really risk being myself muscle, and when you just want to treat yourself.
Ages 13 and up 978-1423163862 325 pages
Happily Recommended by: Barb
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Bryce wakes up in the hospital after being in a coma for five years. She was seventeen and competing in the Olympic diving trials when she had her accident. At first, she doesn’t realize that five years have passed. She is glad to be re-united with her family. However, the family dynamics have changed; her parents barely speak to each other and her sister, Sydney, has a pierced lip and black makeup around her eyes and is disrespectful to her parents. She also likes to drink away her problems. Things at home are not the only changes Bryce encounters. She finds out that her boyfriend, Greg, and her best friend, Gabby, are engaged to be married. Carter, a medical student she meets at the hospital, helps Bryce deal with all the changes in her life. He acts as a liaison between Bryce and her neurologist, Dr. Warren. Just when things seem to be going well, Bryce starts making plans for her future. She has to make some very important decisions about her life.
I highly recommend this book for Older and Mature Readers. The medical issues connected with coma victims are very interesting. Bryce, trying to get her life back, is handled in a realistic manner. The reader has compassion for each of the characters in the book.
Recommended by: Karen Limbaugh, MLIS, Librarian, Texas USA
