Secret Admirer

Funny, hip, and unusually unpredictable, "Secret Admirer" offers mystery, romance, and best of all, a plethora of allusions to all the great bands of the 80s. The story centers on funky DJ Kim Belding, a self-proclaimed music junkie whose obsession with KLAU, the student-run radio station, puts her at odds with petty, but popular Heather Shearson and her merry band of followers, including Student Council president Buddy Forward, who follows Heather's lead, encouraging the School Board's plan to shut down the radio station due to monetary concerns. Although more of a subplot than anything else, the novel also treats the reader to a fun story line, involving a mysterious admirer who calls in to Kim's radio show and requests songs be to dedicated to her. Amidst her attempts to guess the admirer's identity, Kim also finds herself roped into a fundraiser for the radio station, in which the winner gets to take Kim to the big dance; the resulting chaos is pure enjoyment. Everything in this novel, from the smart character development to the cool subject matter, is right on.