If Only We
Release Date: October 27th 2013
Synopsis:
They say all it takes is one wrong move and you lose the game. One false step and you’re trapped. One slip-up in your choice of words and you ruin a friendship forever. That is what they say. They say I lost.
I do not believe them.
At the end of the summer after graduation, Adrienne wonders what happened to cause her life to be in ruins. She isn’t getting along with her mom, her stepsister isn’t talking to her, and, to top it off, the boy she’s been in love with doesn’t want anything to do with her. She believes the turning point was a choice she made at graduation. When she wakes up the next day, she has been transported back three months to that moment, the one where everything started to fall apart.
Adrienne realizes she has been given a second chance—and this time she doesn’t want to mess anything up. Reliving the entire summer, though, turns out to be a lot harder than she thought. As the same days and weeks go by, she starts to see how simple decisions can make a huge impact on the world around her. Despite knowing some of what lies ahead, there are some things she didn’t anticipate. She thought she knew what mistake led her to where she ended up the first time. She was wrong.
And by the time summer is over, she discovers what was really at stake.
If Only We
by Jessica Sankiewicz
I put the empty glass into the
sink, “hop to it,” and get into the shower. My questions will be answered when
I see what outfit she puts on my bed. When I get to my room, I don’t find a
wedding dress. Thank goodness. I do find, however, a dress—and a graduation cap
and gown.
Graduation.
The day everything changed. The
day I ran away to my dad. The day my heart broke.
A wave of nausea crashes into
me, almost causing my legs to give out beneath me. I grab hold of my doorway
with both hands to keep myself standing. A few deep breaths later and my stomach
calms down enough for me to close the door. I lean against it and stare at my
bed.
How can I be graduating…again?
I rub my eyes and open them
again, hoping it was all in my imagination. No such luck. It is still there.
This doesn’t make any sense. Where is my suitcase? It’s not on top of my
dresser anymore. I left it there when I got back since I didn’t have enough
time to unpack. Where did it go?
Opening my closet door, I spot
it on the top shelf. Did my mom unpack it for me? Where are the clothes? There
is nothing in the hamper and a quick rummage through my dresser finds some of
those shirts clean and folded where they belong. How could…? Mom was at work
all day yesterday. Not only that, but I saw the suitcase right before I turned
the lights out last night.
My head is starting to pound
with all the conflicting information I'm taking in. Sitting down in my desk
chair, I put my head in my hands and start to rub my temples. I need to find
something that isn’t out of place. My desk appears to be the same as I left it.
Pens and pencils neatly placed in holder, check. Pile of loose-leaf
college-ruled paper on top of a pile of used notebooks, check. Word-of-the-Day
calendar off to the side, check. Calendar set to the correct date…what…? I
reach out and grab it. That can’t be right.
Saturday, June second.
It feels as though I can’t
blink. I worry that if I do, the date on this page will disappear. I know for a
fact that I peeled off every page I hadn’t removed all summer before I went to
bed last night. Each one was crumpled into a small ball and thrown away. I set
the calendar down and drop to the floor to look through my trash. However, I
can’t look through it because it's empty.
Nothing is making any sense.
I graduated already. This has
already happened. Or did it? I dismiss that thought with a laugh. The most
logical reason for what is happening is that I’m dreaming. I’m reliving this
day in my mind because I spent the time while I was falling asleep thinking
about it. Maybe my mind is playing a psychological trick on itself to right the
wrongs and help me cope. Maybe this is all in my head. Maybe I’m just imagining
all of this.
On the other hand, maybe I am
just losing it.
But what if…what if this is
really happening? What if I am
reliving my whole summer? The prospect causes goose bumps to spread over my
skin.
Have I been given a second
chance?
Jessica is the 28-year-old author of IF ONLY WE, a YA contemporary. You can often find her either reading or marathon watching TV on DVD, her favorites being Castle and Veronica Mars. She frequently mismatches her clothes and giggles uncontrollably. She knows almost every Billy Joel song by heart. She collects books and toys, and she has an intense love of cats and lemurs. Currently in the midst of her quarter-life-crisis, she is still takin' names and getting very close to reaching an epiphany.
One print copy of If Only We (INT)
Book Blitz Organized by:
No comments:
Post a Comment