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March 2, 2015
“My name is Jessica, and I am fifteen years old. And thanks to a bison bull named Ramses on their—our—ranch, my brain is mush.” Jessica’s memories are a blur after she awakens in a hospital from a coma, unable to recognize herself, her family, or her friends. After returning home, Jessica is more comfortable around her playful younger brother, Stephen, than her saddened parents and friends, whose reactions are realistically portrayed. Exploring her old text messages and social media history, Jessica investigates “the Girl in the Mirror”: who she used to be. Her past self seems eerily perfect and contented, which starts to make her suspicious—why was she in the bison pen? And does she really want to know? Debut author St. Jean delicately and thoroughly explores the internal life of a character suffering from amnesia, detailing Jessica’s feelings of separation from herself and the weight of others’ expectations through an introspective first-person narrative. The mystery surrounding Jessica’s accident and a growing fear for what she will discover will keep readers invested in her story. Ages 12–up.

February 1, 2015
A 15-year-old suffers amnesia after a brain trauma.After being attacked by a bull buffalo on her family's ranch, Jessica can't remember any of her previous life: not her family, not her home, not her friends. She looks in the mirror and sees "the Girl," someone else she doesn't know. She retains general knowledge, but her own past remains a complete blank but for the family dog. Once she returns home she must find a way to cope with her new life among strangers who love her. She gets along best with her little brother, Stephen, but struggles to relate to her parents, who are clearly anguished. Best friend Megan tries to help, but an overwhelmed Jessica continually acts out. She finds herself drawn to Tarin, a rebellious girl with issues of her own. As she becomes more discouraged, Jessica begins to take irresponsible risks. St. Jean cleverly contrasts the effects of real amnesia with the condition as laughably depicted on soap operas, writing a highly effective, realistic story about a good girl struggling to fit in with her new life, a life that may never knit together with her old one. Her characters, especially Jessica, Stephen and Tarin, come across as full and credible. Both an absorbing coming-of-age tale and a medical-suspense drama. (Fiction. 12-18)

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April 1, 2015

Gr 8 Up-Jessica wakes up in the hospital without a single memory of her former life. An accident has left her with a traumatic brain injury, and she feels no connection whatsoever to the people she is being told are her family and closest friends. Jessica doesn't know how she is supposed to respond, react, or feel and is trying to manage her behavior to appear as normal as possible to everyone around her. With the help of doctors, nurses, and therapists, Jessica slowly emerges from her isolation and tries to make connections with new people as well as those from her old life. As she attempts to fit the pieces of her old life into her current reality, Jessica starts to understand deep truths about her friends, family, and herself. This is in many ways a typical teen story, full of high emotions, angst, and drama, but the pacing is relatively slow. The amnesia element seems a bit trite, and the mysterious circumstances behind the accident are not terribly compelling. VERDICT For a more interesting narrative involving amnesia, teens are better served by The Adoration of Jenna Fox (Holt, 2008) by Mary E. Pearson or Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin (Farrar, 2007).-Tara Hixon, Piedmont High School, OK

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2015
Grades 7-10 The accident that put Jessica in a coma wiped out all knowledge of her family and friends, leaving her both mystified and scared. Exhibiting the typical wide-swinging moods and lack of emotion caused by traumatic brain injury (TBI), Jessica is as much a question mark to herself as is the prognosis for her full recovery. As she tries to put together the puzzle of just who the old Jessica was, her conclusions shift, each one more baffling than the next. Despite the support and love of her parents and younger brother, she wonders if being a burden to them might be alleviated if she left for good and started over. This debut novel boldly opens up discussions about TBI and its effects on the victim and everyone in her world. The struggles portrayed within the story are compassionately but realistically addressed, and while Jessica's case is rarethough not a clichethis character beautifully illustrates the thorough distress a person must feel when parts of her life are missing.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)