Abandoned by her parents at the age of 7, and shunted off to boarding school at 8, Destiny Faraday has made it a personal policy to never get too settled or attached to any one place or anyone. At 17, she has been at Hedgebrook for almost 2 years now, and she knows that her time is almost up - her parents have never kept her in one school for so long.Destiny is a big believer in coincidence - after all, the day her parents chose to leave, replacing her with her baby brother, was not only her mother's birthday, but Destiny's birthday too. And when, on October 19th, Destiny unexpectedly finds a fabulous pink convertible in front of the school, running, keys in the ignition and a glove box full of cash, it's too much to be a coincidence on this particular day. Especially when she coincidentally finds Seth, who can drive (Destiny can't), hiding from trash duty detention beneath the horribly ugly statue of the Hedebrook founder. Followed in short order by Mira, who happens to see them from class and bolts out to join them (her teacher, completely flustered by being one test short, stepped out), and Aiden, Mira's big crush who also happens to be heading to the nurse with an unexpected bloody nose. Together, the four of them set out on an unauthorized field trip in search of one fair day.
At first unsure of what to do in such close quarters with her classmates, Destiny decides to settle into the unscheduled day and take things as they come. With the addition of a lambadoodle named Lucky to their party, a coincidental encounter with the President of the United States, some awesome vintage clothes, just the right shoes, and a hot dog stand in the right spot just when they feel like lunch, the coincidences start to stack up in ways that really can't be, well, coincidence. And when Seth, Mira and Aiden realize that Destiny's parents live in the town they've landed in, well, there's no stopping destiny. After all, what could be more fair than for Destiny to finally get a chance to ask her parents why they left her behind?
Some of you may remember that Mary E. Pearson's novel The Adoration of Jenna Fox was our very first book review! Her new novel is just as awesome as Jenna was, but in a very different way. By turns funny and heartbreaking, the underlying mystery of Destiny's past slowly unfolds with each new, amazingly lucky coincidence on her journey toward one fair day for herself and the three people in the car with her, who she just might be able to call friends at the end of the day.
Megan
(who just started reading Sara Zarr's new book, Once Was Lost!)
P.S. Speaking of book reviews, if you'd like a chance for your book review to get published on the WAPL teen blog, don't forget to check out our October Book Review Contest - Katie will be posting Tip #2 tomorrow! Links to the rules and info are at the top of the right sidebar.
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