Marie Jaskulka

This took an unexpected, pleasant turn. If by pleasant, I mean "went for the worst possible route for its characters and I loved it".

When a book opens as YA-ish as this one - girl standing on her balcony, calling over a boy she hasn't ever met before, boy scales her house and snaps some one liner - you expect it to be about young, "misunderstood" romance. And for a while, it is. The book jacket gives no indication of it going elsewhere. I have to believe that this is a coincidence decision on Jaskulka's part, and it's a damn good one, because it makes the twist all the more unexpected and delicious. I relish in the fact that legions of teenage girls looking for a sappy romance (as I was too, quite frankly) will pick this up and be knocked off of their feet. Not to mention that it while it paints a horrifying picture, "Lost Notebook" also doesn't fail to spark hope and teach a non-preachy lesson.

The best part of this book, however, is that it's probably the only verse novel I've read where the majority of the poetry could almost stand alone, had it not been connected to plot. Some of the lines are simply gorgeous. I found myself liking Forgotten Girl's more than Random's, as his tended to be focused more on singular purposes whereas her's could cover entire spectrums in a few lines, but both tended to be pretty great. I only found myself disappointed by a few of them, and in a two hundred page book, that's not a big deal. What is, however, is how great this book was. I'd highly recommend it - but try not to spoil it for yourself.… (plus d'informations)