Halley has to move to California right before she starts the next year of high school. She'd worked so hard to fit in with the coolest girls in her old high school, and now she has to start all over... but how? She's not actually cool herself, she's just really good at blending in and pretending she likes all the things the cool kids do.
Someone unexpected greets Halley when she gets to her new home: West, her childhood imaginary friend. He's sixteen now too, and a compelling mixture of sweet, kind, supportive, and hot. How is Halley supposed to resist West? Too bad he only exists in her imagination, even if he seems extremely real to her.
This whole book reminded me a lot of a line from the 1995 movie Sabrina: "Illusions are dangerous people. They have no flaws." West is everything Halley wants... because she made him up. His only flaw is that he doesn't really exist, and he'll slowly fade when Halley makes some real friends.
The message in this book is really good: don't hide who you are in order to attract friends or significant others. The middle section of it started to drag for me after a while, as Halley made unfortunate choice after unfortunate choice, but the pacing picked back up again at the end.
The last two chapters had me crying so much, I went through several Kleenex. I had some very dear imaginary friends when I was a kid and a teen, and I brought a couple of them with me into adulthood. (But I never fell in love with any of them, whew.) The thought of having no choice about whether or not I could keep them was pretty devastating, so probably a lot of readers wouldn't be bawling like I was.
Particularly Good Bits:
"Isn't it better to stick to the people and the things that make you shine brighter? You don't have to fade away to find a place to fit in, Halley" (p. 29).
If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-13 for scenes with teenage boys making girls feel uncomfortable, lightly described kissing, mention of teen make-out sessions, and a LOT of physical attraction to the opposite sex. It is maybe a little more romantic than I would let my teen daughters read just yet, and they are 13 and 15.
