For her senior capstone project, Pip researches the disappearance of former Fairview High student Andie, last seen on April 18, 2014, by her younger sister, Becca. Pip has known and liked Sal since childhood he’d supported her when she was being bullied in middle school. There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head.Įveryone believes that Salil Singh killed his girlfriend, Andrea Bell, five years ago-except Pippa Fitz-Amobi. Even secondary characters are well-rounded, with their own histories and motivations. Autumn’s coming-of-age is sensitively chronicled, with a wide range of experiences and events shaping her character.

But on August 8, everything changes, and Autumn has to rely on all her strength to move on. In the summer after graduation, Autumn and Finny reconnect and are finally ready to be more than friends. Growing up, Autumn and Finny were like peas in a pod despite their differences: Autumn is “quirky and odd,” while Finny is “sweet and shy and everyone like him.” But in eighth grade, Autumn and Finny stop being friends due to an unexpected kiss. They drift apart and find new friends, but their friendship keeps asserting itself at parties, shared holiday gatherings and random encounters. The finely drawn characters capture readers’ attention in this debut.Īutumn and Phineas, nicknamed Finny, were born a week apart their mothers are still best friends. In a refreshing departure from her plant-based paranormal-romance series ( Destined, 2012, etc.), Pike develops the pleasantly fractious relationship between Jeff and Kimberlee in Jeff’s earthy, humorous first-person as he only initially reluctantly takes the high road to help her.Īside from its heavenly premise, this brisk, down-to-earth thriller should appeal equally to male and female readers. Finding the love of his dreams, who, it turns out, has played a significant role in Kimberlee’s criminal past, only complicates matters further. It takes Jeff a while to realize what a bizarre drama he has let himself get involved in. She wants him to help her atone for her past sins so that she can move on to the place with bright lights where she believes the peaceful dead end up. Apart from disappearing through walls when it suits her, she behaves like any other kleptomaniac teenage brat. Jeff can see and hear Kimberlee Schaffer loud and clear, but to everyone else she is invisible. On his first day at an exclusive private high school in Santa Monica, freshman Jeff Clayson discovers that he is being stalked by the ghost of a former student who drowned two years earlier. “There’s something about having a fight with a ghost that makes you paranoid in the morning.”

Life after theft by aprilynne pike