After attending the launch of Best Friends Through Eternity, I was keen to delve right into the story. Hearing the author read selections and learning about the cover process, the Sari and the Indian food was a great prelude to the book. On this coldest day this winter, it was the perfect evening to bundle up by the fire and read an entire book!

The story is about Paige, a young girl who was ‘chosen’ from an orphanage in China. She is bullied at school as she covers for her friend Jasmine who is secretly dating a boy that her Indian parents would not approve of. While walking home on the train tracks, she misjudges the timing of the Go train and his struck in her hometown of Burlington. She awakes in an alternate place, on a beach, meeting her childhood friend Kim who was also ‘chosen’ and had “moved away” at the age of seven.

After the accident, Kim helps Paige to have another week to ‘do over’. Knowing that she has just 7 days, Paige learns from mistakes, is more empathetic of others and considers whether she will be able to alter her destiny. With her second chance, she learns more about her heritage and orphanage past, gets to know a boy named Max seeing him in a different light and appreciates what her parents have done for her. She discovers the truth about Kim’s and learns more about herself during the week.

This is a book geared to young adults but it is engaging and a quick read which I enjoyed very much.  It has more depth than If I Stay, another YA book that Erin and I read that deals with the time/place between life and death. I think it is a perfect book for pre-teens, living in multi-cultural communities and dealing with peers, parents and their own identities. As always, I love reading books with familiar landmarks! I will be interested to hear what Erin and Gabrielle think when they finish the book.