AustLit

'"I wait for him, the cold seeping through my clothes, until it finally dawns on me that he's not coming back. And I wonder why he chose her instead of me? Why he went looking for her when I was right there."

'Tai and Juliet have been best friends forever - since they met at kindy and decided to get married in first grade.

'They understand each other in the way that only best friends can.

'They love music, beach walks, energy drinks and, they are slowly discovering, each other.

'As they begin to dream of adventures beyond the HSC - a future free of homework, curfews and parents, a life together - their plans are suddenly and dramatically derailed.

'For Tai is sick.

'And not everything you wish for can come true.

'A poignant story of first love, hope, grief, family, and the twistedness of life.' (From the publisher's website.)

'Char is seventeen. She's in her last year of school. She's in a mess. She can't sleep, she can't eat. She feels... nothing.

'As Char deals with her parents, her boyfriend Jim, her friends, parties, school work and end-of-year exams, we feel just what it's like to be seventeen and so unsure that the future is anything more than just a concept of time.

'A compelling verse novel from an exciting new voice in children's fiction. Confronting, realistic, funny and chilling, the kaleidoscopic emotions of a teenager on the edge are poignantly conveyed in powerful verses that weave in and out of Char's view of the world, and the views of those around her who watch, disturbed, helpless, as Char slowly loses herself.' (Synopsis)