Don't Forget Me

An unusually well-written Sweet Dreams novel, "Don't Forget Me" draws the reader in with colorful descriptions and a perceptively realistic narrator; even the standard after-school-special message about learning to find one's own way in life, rather than simply following others, isn't grating. Slightly melodrama-prone main character Wendy Farris takes a trip to Crisis-ville when her mom suddenly decides to take a promotion and move from breezy Florida Gulf town Sea Gate to Philadelphia, and Wendy is forced to move in with her aunt Eva. Wendy is able to put her sulking on hold long enough to fall for new-guy-in-town Gary Vries, an athletic and soulful California transplant; however complications arise when Wendy learns from Gary's sister that he is planning to move back to California to be with his "girlfriend," prompting a devastated Wendy to sulk some more before finally landing the guy of her dreams, and, in the process, coming to terms with her relationship with her mother. Although the ending seems far too abrupt and forced, the novel is definitely better than many in the series.