The sun is out again! :-) Still breezy and cool, but sunny. I go into a funk when the weather is overcast and nasty.

Finished Head Games by Mariah Fredericks this a.m. I loved The True Meaning of Cleavage so I was anxious to read this one. Federicks has the ability to create a believably strong but vulnerable teenage girl who the reader connects with from the very first page: "All it is, is a little pressure. And just like that, everything changes." Judith is talking about pressing a key on the keyboard to determine her fate in an online game, but she is also describing her life.

The fantasy world becomes part of her real world when she discovers that one of the players is Jonathan the "bad boy" who lives next door. Pretty soon they are playing their own fantasy/role playing game, with Judith the willing "student". Judith would rather live in a fantasy world, playing a role, than deal with her feelings and fears about a sexual assault she has told no one about. She has shut down the "girly" side of her personality and prefers to role play as a male. A venture into the "real world" of tutoring another female student and coming to terms with an old friendship gone bad, Judith is able to step back inside her own skin and begin to figure out who she is.

I thought the cover on The True Meaning of Cleavage was suggestively clever due to the title, but I really do not care for the cover on Head Games. It is a close up of a girl who looks slightly stoned, or perhaps she is supposed to look aroused, with her mouth partially open. Oh well, I am sure it will attract teen readers and cause a bit of snickering from the guys.

That's it for today. Hmmm - what to read next? The Beckoners by Carrie Mac.