MY INVENTED LIFE

A high-school production of As You Like It forms the backdrop for this romantic comedy that echoes the farce of Shakespeare’s play in an energetic but ultimately strained tale of two sisters and their friends. When Roz’s older sister Eva begins to freeze her out, Roz suspects that it may be because she is trying to conceal her lesbianism from her. For reasons that are never entirely convincing, Roz decides to fake that she herself is gay and “comes out” to people at school, describing her experiences to Eva in a synopsis she terms “The Lesbian Report.” Bjorkman’s speedy pacing and Roz’s frenetic first-person voice may initially draw readers in, but the narrative is occasionally confusing. Witty turns of phrase are plentiful but sometimes fall flat: “After a night of patchy sleep, my eyelids feel as squishy as overripe apricots.” Still, the lighthearted treatment of sexuality is intriguing, and this may well find an audience among teen drama geeks with a taste for Shakespearean insults. (Fiction. 13 & up)