Young Adult Book Reviews

Genre:  Realistic Fiction

Age Level:  14 and up

# of Pages:  247

RAC Book:  Yes

Fiona, Killian, Alma, and Yoli are four best friends who are planning to take a cruise together after their high school graduation.   The night before graduation a fortune teller at a carnival predicts that one of them will not come home from the cruise and that the cruise itself will be full of strife.  Even though none of them want to admit it, this prediction bothers all of them.  As they  leave for their journey, Fiona has a fight with her boyfriend about a dress she wants to pack.  His stubbornness and determination to tell her what to do makes her wonder if he really is the right guy for her, especially when she meets another guy on the cruise.  Meanwhile, the girls do find themselves fighting more than usual and Killian and Yoli pull ridiculous stunts to get themselves noticed by a wild boy.  Will one of them get in over their heads?  Will they find a dangerous situation they can’t handle?  Or, is the fortune teller merely a fake and they have nothing to fear on this trip of a lifetime?

This story follows four friends as they celebrate graduation for a week on a cruise and at the same time decide if the decisions they have made are the right decisions for them.  Fiona, for example, is unsure if the life she has perfectly mapped out is actually what she wants right now.  Killian doesn’t even know what she wants, but she knows what she doesn’t want to do with her life.  Through the course of this trip, the four will begin to separate as well as come together as they realize their time as a foursome is drawing to a close.  The ending is interesting and will not disappoint readers, but it is foreshadowed throughout the story so it is not a real surprise.  Readers who like books about friendship will enjoy this.