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Lennie, 17, has always been content with her role as the girl in the background, playing sidekick to her dramatic older sister, Bailey. After Bailey’s sudden death, Lennie finds herself receiving a lot of attention from her peers and her family. Not one but two boys are interested in her: Toby, Bailey’s boyfriend, and Joe, an artistic newcomer from France. Lennie loves them both for different reasons, but she almost destroys her relationship with Joe when he catches her kissing Toby. Romantics need not despair, for Joe is also the one who encourages her to rediscover her love of playing the clarinet, an activity that starts her on her path to becoming more independent. Lennie’s losses are both heartfelt and appropriately literary and artsy, but her feelings and self-discovery often get buried in the many plotlines. Tied in with Bailey’s death are the loss of Lennie’s mother, her obsession with Wuthering Heights and her uncle’s role as the town Casanova. This well-intentioned story about love and loss too often gets tangled in its own emo. (Fiction. YA)
