Wickedly Good - A Chicklit Version of Macbeth

Chick Lit author Sibel Hodge will be celebrating "International Chick Lit" month throughout the month of May on her blog, and she's hosting a bunch of giveaways. You should check it out! Following My Toes is one of many digital downloads you can enter to win.

Visit her blog here:
http://www.sibelhodge.com/my-blog/may-is...

So, in honor of "International Chick Lit Month" (who knew there was a month for that?) I'm posting a short story I wrote years ago, combing two of my favorite genres: chick lit, and the Shakespearean tragedy - namely, Macbeth. Enjoy!

           

Wickedly Good

A Chick lit Version of MACBETH

It’s Monday morning and I’m feeling the effect from one too many Cosmos last night. My philosophy has always been that Sunday night is still part of the weekend and should be treated as such. I’m beginning to rethink that idea now, seeing as how I’m nearly thirty, I can’t get into lower than a size twelve dress, my mom and I don’t get along, and I’m still single! Oh! I almost forgot. I also have a crappy job working at a major NYC publishing house (I’m in the HR department). Lately I’ve been thinking that it’s time to grow up, form some goals, and achieve them. It’s time to get serious.

            “Wendy! Snap to! I’ve never seen you looking so foul.” Helga, my direct superior, screams across the room at me, compounding my headache and rotten mood. There’s something about the martyred nasal quality of her voice that really sets me off.

            My co-worker Sabrina answers back with a chirp. “Helga, be fair. She’s not capable of much”. She shakes her blond head and tugs on her size two jeans as she speaks. I suppress the urge to clobber her.  Fair and foul, foul and fair – I hate them both so much.

            Helga, Sabrina, and Wendy – together we’re the weird sisters of HR. Not just because we’re all weird, but because coincidentally, we’re named after famous – or infamous witches.  Helga lives up to her name by being hideous in both looks and personality. Sabrina could be Melissa Joan Hart’s evil twin. And me, well, I’m Wendy the good little witch. Except I’m not so good, and I’m definitely not little.

            And how are we weird?

            You’d be surprised at what working in an office with fluorescent lighting, no windows, and only the same two people to talk to, all day long, can do to you. Sometimes when a new person strolls in we tend to overwhelm him with our enthusiasm. And so what if we practice a little black magic from time to time? You would too if your job was as tedious as ours is.

             Our office door opens, and in strolls Mr. Mac. Mr. Mac is really high up here at Cawdor publishing. The only person above him is his best buddy Banquo, and Duncan Dunsinane, the president of the company. But Duncan is old and worn out, and there have been rumors about his retirement. Mr. Mac would be the natural successor. And what a yummy boss he would be! Brown wavy hair, piercing blue eyes, and a body that just won’t quit. Combine that with a sexy Scottish accent and witty personality, well, he’s the dream of every single urban girl who drinks too much and loves shoe shopping. Hooking him in would be the perfect start to improving my life.

            “Good day ladies. I’m in a bit of a fix, and I need you to lend me a hand.”

            Helga pipes in first. “All hail Mr. Mac, Publicity Director of Cawdor!”

            Next chimes Sabrina. “All hail Mr. Mac, Vice President of publishing!”

            Then I add in the final punch. “All hail Mr. Mac, you’ll be CEO pretty soon!”

            Mr. Mac raises one eyebrow and gives us a crooked smile. “Right. I was just wondering if you could find our entry-level interview questions. I’ve somebody coming in at noon, and nobody seems to have a copy.”

            The door opens again and in comes Mr. Mac’s good friend, Banquo. Banquo is short, round, and bald. Supposedly he’s wickedly good at publishing, but I just don’t have the urge to pour a frapachino all over his body and lick it up the way I do with Mr. Mac.

            “All hail Banquo, shorter than Mr. Mac, yet much taller!” cries Helga.

            “All hail Banquo, not so successful as Mr. Mac, yet much more successful!” wails Sabrina.

            “You will have sex, although nobody actually thinks you’re sexy.” I proclaim.

            There’s an awkward pause as everybody looks at each other but nobody wants to speak. Darnit! Why do I open my mouth and say such silly things? I could probably lose my job for that last comment and I can’t afford to. The new Jimmy Choos I have on made my credit card bill sky rocket.

            Banquo breaks the silence. “Um, thank you?” Then he turns to Mr. Mac. “Mac, did you hear? Duncan is in the hospital. He had a massive stroke this morning. The doctors say he probably won’t last the night.”

            “You’re… you’re joking, right?”

            “Mac,” says Banquo, “I wouldn’t joke about something like that.”

            Mr. Mac turns to Helga, Sabrina and me and gives us a suspicious look. “What are you ladies up to?” he asks.

            Helga grabs her industrial sized bottle of whiteout and waves it around.

“Out, out damn spot,” she cries. Then a fog emerges from the bottle, and out of that fog came an apparition. It’s of a novel with a pink cover, and on that cover is a stiletto and a martini glass.

            “Open the book and see!” yells Helga.

            “See!” cries Sabrina.

            “Read the dang book!” I howl.

            Banquo and Mr. Mac each look a little green, but Banquo steps forward first.

            “What the heck,” he says, as he opens the book-like thing that is floating in front of him.

            “What does it say?” Mr. Mac asks him.

            “I think you’d better see for yourself,” Banquo responds.

            Mr. Mac steps forward to inspect the book. As he does Helga, Sabrina and I dance in a circle around him, chanting.

            “Double, double, flirt and fumble. Money earn, and humor be humble!”

            We stop chanting as Mr. Mac speaks. “It says that no chick of chicken born shall ever harm me. I must say, I have no idea what that could possibly mean.  Banquo, what do you think it means?”

            But Banquo hasn’t been paying attention. He has turned his focus to me.

            “You’re Wendy, right?”

            “Yeah,” I respond with a smile and a wink. Perhaps there is something about him after all.

            “So you think I’m going to have sex?”

            “No.” I say, deadpan. “I know you are going to have sex.”

            He laughs. “You maybe want to get a drink sometime?”

            “Sure. I’m busy tonight, but how about tomorrow?”

            “Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow…” Mr. Mac says that, but his voice trails off as the apparition disappears.

            Banquo and I hit it off like a bored housewife on bowling night. And lucky for me, he was promoted after Duncun’s death. You see, Banquo recognized my talents right away and put me in a job in where I’d have some real input. Mr. Mac did make CEO, but he didn’t last long. Seems he fought me every step of the way as I tried to get Cawdor publishing to market books which spoke to me – and all the other single urban women out there. Sure, dismiss my books as chick lit, I don’t mind. I may be a chick, but I’m not a chicken. And when I replaced Mr. Mac as CEO, he realized just how wickedly good I am!

The Barefoot Book of Princesses

We’ve been hearing about princesses a lot lately; since the world is about to get a new one. However, whether or not there’s an upcoming royal wedding, princesses are a cultural staple. Little girls love a princess, and Disney is only too happy to supply lots of princess role models. Some people think this is dangerous, that it sets up a false ideal of femininity that’s connected to beauty and finding a man. I don’t know. Recently the Disney princesses have been pretty self-sufficient. Yes, they’re always beautiful, but at least they’re a little more varied now, and hooking in a prince isn’t always their only priority.

Still, I’m sure Rich and I will want to be careful when, in a few years, our baby girl Pauline is likely to get hooked into the princess hype. I plan to let her watch the Disney movies if that’s what she wants to do, but I also plan to show her The Barefoot Book of Princesses.

I bought it years ago, when I was teaching a fantasy literature class, and we were discussing fairy tales. I haven’t taught the class recently, but I held onto the book because I think it’s great and I’m excited to read it to Pauline when she’s old enough. It truly is multi-cultural, with all sorts or nationalities represented.  The Princess and the Pea is Danish; The Beggar Princess is Chinese; The Mountain Princess is Persian; The Princess who Lost her Hair is from Akamba; The Sleeping Beauty is German, The Birdcage Husband is a Kalmuck story; and The Horned Snake's Wife is Iroquois.

Author Caitlin Matthews does a good job in the retelling of all these stories. In each one she depicts a princess who is strong-willed, unique, and special. The illustrations are beautiful, but the princesses on these pages don’t always fit into the traditional ideals of American beauty. That is one of the book’s biggest strengths.

I don’t think there is any point in trying to steer Pauline away from the Disney princess. The harder I try, the more she’ll want to be one. However, it is possible to present some other options of what it means to be a princess, and The Barefoot Book of Princesses is a wonderful place to start.

The Kennedys vs. The Royal Family

This morning I was looking at the paper and I saw an article about the upcoming royal wedding, which I'm only aware of because I don't live in a cave. I said to Rich, my husband, "I don't get why people are so caught up in this wedding."
"Because they're pathetic," he replied.
Rich has never shied away from strong opinions, and he's been known to be particularly "strong minded" in the morning, before his first cup of coffee. However, as this is not a subject I care much about, I declined to comment back.
The same wasn't true two days ago, when I found to my delight, that the entire Kennedy miniseries that the History Channel decided not to show is now be offered for free on Demand. Yay! I love stuff about the Kennedys, I always have. I'm particularly fond of Bobby Kennedy. If there's a book, movie, or mini-series made about him, then I've read or watched it. Rich concedes Bobby might actually have had a soul, and I agree. I'd like to think there was truth behind all his convictions.
So I don't know why Rich was surprised when I told him how happy I was about the Kennedy miniseries. After he mimed throwing up, he told me it had gotten terrible reviews and I couldn't be serious about watching it.
"I'm not as governed by other people's opinions as you are," I said. He laughed and admitted I won that round.
I'm enjoying watching it. Tom Wikinson as Joe Sr. is excellent, and I'm enjoying Greg Kinnear as Jack and Barry Pepper as Bobby. Katie Holmes as Jackie is entertaining. Part of the time I think she's doing a great job, and then I recognize some mannerism of Joey's from Dawson's Creek, and I'm sort of brought out of the story a little.
Whatever. Everyone has their fascinations. Why do I care so much about the Kennedys and not at all about the Royal Family? They're so similar in so many ways: glamor, corruption hidden under a shiny surface, ideals that got lost in ambition, mysterious deaths...
Hmm. Maybe I've been missing out. It might be time to find a new fascination.

The Queen Bee of Bridgeton/ some views on public education

The Queen Bee of Bridgeton, by Leslie DuBois, is about Sonya, a fifteen year-old African American girl who lives in dangerous Venton Heights. She and her sister have received scholarships to attend Bridgeton, an exclusive private school. However, Sonya is more concerned with becoming a professional dancer than anything else. It’s not until she attracts the eye of the school’s star basketball player that she becomes involved in the high school social scene. Yet her involvement comes at a price; the school’s “bitch brigade” suddenly has it out for her, and Sonya now has to battle against an anonymous force of lies, rumors, and sabotage.

We know at the beginning of the book that Sonya will eventually have to face the school’s honor council, which is a jury of her peers. They will decide whether or not she is guilty of cheating. We know she’s been framed, but if she is found guilty she will be expelled, and forced back into her dead-end life in Venton Heights.

I loved this book. It was immediately intriguing, and Sonya was a character I really rooted for. The stakes were high in every area of her life, and there were no easy situations. Even her relationships with her boyfriend and her sister were complex when they should have been simple, and the reader was left wondering who the bad guy is. Yet throughout the novel Sonya tries to rise above her situation, and tries to make good choices despite all the obstacles in her way.

It was refreshing to read a young-adult book that did not in any way include a paranormal subject matter. Instead, it dealt with very real issues, like poverty, abuse, alcoholism, bullying, and loyalty. I strongly recommend it.

One reason it hit a chord with me is because many of my students deal with such issues on a daily basis. However, the school where I teach is nothing like Bridgeton Academy; no public school is. At my school you need to really be a threat in order to get expelled, and even then you get lots of second chances before that happens.

I’ve been serving on my school’s rules and handbook committee, where we have been trying to come up with consequences that are better than suspension or expulsion. Neither has been shown to positively affect the behavior of the student in question.

What would you do if a student came into class looking for a fight? Some of them do; they are angry at you before they’ve even met you, and if you ask them to do something simple, like sit in their assigned seat, or put away their cell phone, or quiet down and get to work, they’ll ask you who are you to tell them what to do, mind your own business, get out of their face.

Getting of that kid out your class, either temporarily or permanently, may not benefit him/her, but it will benefit the rest of the students who are trying to learn. Keeping that kid will only show all the other students that your hands are tied when it comes to enforcing consequences; it will teach other students that you can be treated with disrespect and nothing will happen.

I’m going on about this because I’ve learned that there’s a big focus now on eliminating suspensions and expulsions for minority and disadvantaged kids, because they are leaving school in disproportionate rates.  Arne Duncan, the education secretary, seems to imply that schools are being racist when they suspend or expel more black kids than white kids. If you look at the figures, I can understand his inference. But anyone who has spent time in a class with difficult kids knows how hard it is to simply survive with your dignity and sanity in place. I rarely send kids out of my class, and when I do I am usually happy to have them back if they are willing to be respectful and follow the rules. A few times in the eleven years I’ve been teaching a kid has been so outrageously bad that I needed him/her out for a day or more, and I’d like to think that this will still be an option in the years to come.

But this much is true: whether it’s fictional stories about private education, or real-life stories about public schools, there are no easy answers.

A Good Ending

Last night my son Eli was watching a movie - The Ant Bully. This kid gets shrunk to the size of an ant, and early on in the story he is at risk of getting trampled or sprayed or something. Anyway, Eli is a sensitive kid, and he started to get scared, like he usually does when he watches movies. (Elmo in Grouchland scared him, and he was five at the time of the viewing.) So Rich and I said what we always say, "Don't worry, Eli. It's going to work out."
And Eli responded with, "I know. It wouldn't be a story if it didn't have a happy ending."

Well, not exactly, we told him. But in a way he's right.

No matter what kind of book, movie, or television show you're enjoying, you know the main character is going to make it out alive if he/she encounters trouble early on.(Psycho and Scream are the two examples I can think of that contradict that.) Wouldn't it be interesting if audiences had no idea what the length of things will be until after they were done? Twenty minutes in and the main character could kick it, and the story would be over. Or it could go on for hours, and we'd have no idea of when the ending would come.

It would make stories more like real life.

I'm not advocating for this. As an English teacher, I cover the plot diagram with my students every semester. Every story has exposition, an inciting incident, rising action, a climax, and a denouncement. There should always be a conflict, and the events of the story should have a causal relationship. It's what makes them stories, rather than incidents. And, if it's a good story, some sort of truth is expressed through the fiction.

Actually, I'm very picky when it comes to endings. I'm a big fan of Jennifer Weiner, but the ending of Good Night Nobody really frustrated me, because her main character never made a choice over a conflict that was central to the entire plot. Same is true for Jodi Piccoult's My Sister's Keeper. 

Conversely, I have never loved an ending more than Wally Lamb's I Know This Much is True. Somehow he managed to summarize all the themes of this huge novel in one paragraph, and he eloquently revisited all the emotions that both his main character and the reader experienced on this amazing journey. I still pull the book out and read the last page every now and then.

Another great ending is in the movie Dead Poet's Society. Also, I love the last few minutes of Little Miss Sunshine. I won't go into detail in case there are readers who haven't seen them yet. But people who have seen them might understand what I mean when I say I was moved. They captured this emotion in me, where if I could have leapt into the screen and been a part of the action, I would have.

I think Eli felt that way at the end of The Ant Bully. He was practically doing a victory dance along with the ants on the screen. Now that's a good ending.

However, if there are any movies you wish had different ending, you might try visiting this site my friend Brett told me about. It's really funny!
http://www.howitshouldhaveended.com/

Using Kindle to Create a Spark

Last January my husband gave me a Kindle for my birthday. How had I survived so long without one of these things? I know what the critics say… they like the tactile feeling of holding a book in their hands. Kindles make the reading experience too generic. They don’t want what they read to be battery-powered. Each book is an experience unto itself, and they like to see that experience represented in their book shelves.

            I sort of get these protestations, but ultimately I think the Kindle is the best entertainment device invented since the ipod. I also think the Kindle is going to revolutionize the publishing industry in the same way that the ipod revolutionized the music industry.

            Yeah, yeah. I’m not saying anything new. In fact, I’m way behind on this way of thinking, and I’ve only just begun to realize it.

            Back in 2007 when Following My Toes was published the Kindle had yet to be invented, and print on demand publishing was just catching on. I had to work hard to get reviews or press, but it was possible, and I got several places to review it, in addition to an article in Minnesota Women’s Press and one in a local neighborhood paper, the Sun Times. None of this sold a lot of books, however.

            Now it’s 2011, and Starring in the Movie of My Life is a tougher sell. I contacted all of the same places that reviewed and liked Following My Toes, but none of them even responded to my request for a review. By some miracle I got reviewed by RT Times and Midwest Book Reviews, which astounds me. I believe the market is completely over-saturated with books now, and the competition has become fiercer than ever when it comes to receiving attention.

            That’s the bad news.

            Here’s the good news:

• There are tons of book blogs out there, and several of these blogs have agreed to review Starring in the Movie of My Life. This could be even better than getting reviewed by “established” places because these blogs have loyal readers who place a lot of trust in the blog writers.
• It is actually possible to sell a lot of books if you’re independently published, due to the Kindle and other e-readers.

Why? Well, when you’re not part of a big publishing house, you can price your books however you want, and due to no shipping and printing expenses,  you can still make money selling electronic versions of your books even if they’re only $.99. That’s what Amanda Hocking did.

            For those of you who aren’t familiar with Amanda Hocking, she wrote and independently published a paranormal teen-romance series, priced it cheaply, sold over a million copies, the foreign rights to her books, and last I read (in Entertainment Weekly), had been picked up by a major publisher.

            Was it easy? No. I have read her blog entries, and she worked very hard. Even still, she acknowledges how lucky she is. I, of course, am insanely jealous.

            So taking a page from her playbook, PMI books priced Following My Toes at $.99 and Starring in the Movie of My Life at $2.99. Following My Toes is selling more than it ever has, sometimes even one or two copies a day. I would love for it to make the top thousand in Kindle sales, but so far the highest it’s achieved is the top twelve-thousand. (I think there are around 750,000 Kindle books available on Amazon.) Starring in the Movie of My Life is barely moving at all.

            I’ve sent out lots of review copies of each book, both print and electronic versions. Now comes the time when I need to be patient and wait for the reviews to come in and word of mouth to spread.  But that is so hard, because I have no faith it will actually happen, and I also feel like there must be SOMETHING else I could be doing. But what?

            I write this blog. I’ve joined Good Reads, Library Thing, Book Blogs, and Book Town. I try to participate in all of them, but I also have these things called a full-time job and a family. There are only so many hours in the day.

            So I’m left with this feeling that my dream of being widely read is just out of reach. But at least with the Kindle, it’s closer than it’s ever been before.

BTW - If anybody out there has sold a lot of Kindle books on Amazon, I'd love to hear how you did it!

But What Sort of Friend Would She Be?

I can think of four series in the last decade that have taken readers by storm, and all of them have young female protagonists. Since I haven't yet read The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo series, I won't be commenting on it.  But with Hunger Games, Twilight, and Harry Potter, I wonder. If the female protagonists of these series were real, would I want them as a friend?

• Katnis Everdeen from The Hunger Games – She’s obviously a bad ass, and she’s extremely loyal and devoted to the people she loves. But I doubt we’d have much in common. I don’t hunt, and I would always be scared she’d judge me for being too girly. For instance, I doubt she’d ever want to just veg on the couch and watch a Sex and the City marathon. Also, she’s not exactly in touch with her emotions, so it would be hard to have heart-to-hearts.
• Hermione Granger from Harry Potter – I know she's not the main character of the series, but she counts. So she’s super smart, and brave, and there’s a ton to admire. She seems to have a sense of humor, although it’s not always easy to tell since she spends most of her time trying to help Harry save the world from he who won’t be named. But like Katnis, she doesn’t seem to have a lot of female friends. Should I hold that against her? Maybe it’s just circumstance.
• Bella from Twilight – Uhgg. I know there are lots and lots of people who love this series, but I never got past the first book. If Bella was real, what would we talk about? I’d have to hear her go on and on about whether she should be with Jacob or Edward, and if we ever had plans to do something, I know she’d dump me the moment Edward called and said he wanted to hang out.

So if I had to choose one, I’d go with Hermione. I believe once she graduated from Hogwarts and life became somewhat stable she would loosen up and we could have some fun together. And I like her choices. Ron is definitely not a bad boy. Girls who choose bad boys can be pretty needy (Bella?).

But I welcome comments on this one. What do others think?

Now for book news.

First, I am reading A Modern Witch by Debra Geary. It’s charming: sort of a chick-lit version of Harry Potter. The main character, Lauren, discovers she’s a mind-witch when she’s twenty-eight years old, and the plot centers around her, the witches who then come into her life, and her best friend Nat. If you have a kindle it’s a cheap download on Amazon.

Also, to toot my own horn a little, Starring in the Movie of My Life got reviewed by Midwest Book Reviews, which is a big deal if you’re an independent author. “A riveting romance and drama, highly recommended” was the title line of their review on Amazon. You can read the whole thing if you follow this link:

http://tinyurl.com/3uknxf7 

The Biggest Schmoozer

Last spring, while I was in the last half of my pregnancy, I would record The Biggest Loser and watch it in the morning when I worked out. Since the show is two hours long and I’d only work out for about thirty minutes, it would last me about three days worth of workouts, after I fast-forwarded through commercials.

It served my purposes very well. I wasn't trying to lose weight, I just wanted to keep moving. While doing so,  I stayed entertained and motivated, and I felt good about myself. If my son Eli got up early to sit on the couch while I exercised I’d never worry that he’d see or hear something inappropriate. Also, I had a little crush on one of the contestants – Sam. Once he slimmed down he was super cute, and so driven!

Then Jillian Michaels, one of the trainers, said in an interview that she would never have a baby because of what it does to your body. I was in my seventh or eighth month when this happened, and it’s silly but I’ll admit it; I felt somewhat betrayed. Every morning while lugging my pregnant self on and off my exercise ball I’d listen to her lecture these out-of-shape people about fitness and goals, yet she couldn’t condone a natural choice such as pregnancy (for herself at least) because she didn’t want to gain weight?

Well, her comment caused a minor uproar for like a day, she said things to backtrack and explain, I don’t remember what exactly, and the world shifted its attention to something else. Now she has a new book out, which is what I am actually writing about  today.

Usually if I’m going to write about books it will be about fiction, because I prefer fiction to nonfiction. That’s just who I am. However, I couldn’t help but notice that the subject of her new book isn’t on fitness, it’s on achieving your dreams, and that intrigued me. Here’s a direct quote from her book:

“There is no authentic goal you can set for yourself that can’t be reached, no dream that can’t be realized.”

Now I have only read the first part of the first chapter from an online excerpt, so I don’t know what she means by authentic.  Is my goal of being a famous Broadway singer authentic? Because I would really love to sing the lead in Wicked – that “Defying Gravity” song is AWESOME. Maybe I could even guest star on Glee. Or not... because I know that no matter how long I spend practicing or taking voice lessons, I will never, ever, ever be able to sing like that. I'll also never be a pro-athlete or a rocket scientist, but the singing thing is what disappoints me.

In this excerpt she goes on to say that parents, teachers, bosses, and society in general have taught us to think small, when what we need to do is think big. Imagining our dreams is the first step, then we need the skills and the drive. After that we can achieve whatever we want.

Maybe this wouldn’t bug me so much if I wasn’t spending my days preparing my 10^th grade English classes for the state reading test, a test they need to graduate. A lot of my students are at or even below a sixth grade reading level, and they don’t care about this test, at least not right now. The government seems to think that if I had enough skills and drive I could overcome these obstacles, but right now I feel like my dream of becoming a Broadway diva is more authentic than getting all of these kids to pass this test.

I think I’ll just stick to reading fiction.

Book Review - TRANCE by Linda Gerber

First off:  for all you e-reader people, my electronic novel Looking For Ward is available FREE on Smashwords.com and Barnes&Noble.com. Revisit a time before Facebook and Twitter, and follow Chloe's e-mails when her fiance disappears thirty days before their wedding. And if you like it, write a review on Amazon or wherever you downloaded it from!

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Looking-For-Ward/Laurel-Osterkamp/e/2940011235603/?itm=1&USRI=laurel+osterkamp
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/43650

Okay. Now for my review!
Trance, by Linda Gerber, is about teenager Ashlyn, who is out-of-sorts for several reasons. Her mother recently died in a traffic accident, and Ashlyn feels responsible because she had been at the wheel. Her sister has been gone for months,  and Ashlyn can't get a hold of her. But worst of all, both Ashlyn and her sister experience uncontrollable trances where they write random numbers and glimpse images of someone's imminent death.
They've had this ability/curse since they were children, and that has made it difficult for them to get close to people or to feel normal. Now that Ashlyn's mother is dead and her sister has disappeared, she feels even more isolated than ever. Then Ashlyn meets a cute guy and makes a new friend while working at the mall, and her life begins to feel more hopeful. But when Ashlyn begins to realize that the trances she's been experiencing recently are warning her of her new love interest's coming death, she realizes it's time to find her sister and take charge of the trances, rather than being controlled by them
I thought Trance was well written and suspenseful. I honestly didn't know how it was going to end, and I thought it all came together well. It's a book I would definitely recommend to my students; it's an easy read but not without substance.
The love story subplot was a little hard to believe, but hey, I'm not a teenager anymore, so who am I to say?
Nevertheless, it was a good story and I'm glad I checked it out from the library.