Product Description

Samantha only wants to be loved. By her father, by her best friend, and now by the new boy at school, Farouk. The more time Sam spends with him, the more she can’t stop thinking about him. To escape, Sam runs track at school, finishing every race, but never pushing herself to the limit.
Sam and Farouk spend afternoons at the beach where divers risk their lives to jump off high cliffs into the churning water below. Like the divers, Sam risks herself to be with Farouk, growing more and more attached to him, longing to feel safe enough to let herself go and show her true feelings.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2072408 in Books
• Published on: 2006-02-14
• Released on: 2006-02-14
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 6.87" h x .55" w x 4.20" l, .22 pounds
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 192 pages

From School Library Journal
Grade 8 Up–Samantha is an introspective high school student who characterizes herself as "invisible." She loves to run track but is always in the middle of the pack. She lives in a sterile condo in San Diego with her father, a chronic philanderer, and his pregnant girlfriend; Sam's mother left several years before. The teen tries to fill her life with her friend Chloe, who has her own family problems; running; and the boys she meets on the beach, with whom she has casual sex. Then something unexpected happens. Popular Owen Killgore, who had tried to use Sam for his careless pleasure, dies in his sleep ostensibly of a "swollen" heart, and, on the same day, a new boy joins her class. She and Farouk begin a tentative relationship that lasts until they become intimate, and then she becomes invisible to him as he moves on to other conquests. This dense and thought-provoking book is a richly rewarding read. It delves so deeply into character that one feels as if layers are being peeled away to reveal more facets of Samantha's emotional life. An achingly beautiful story that shows one young woman's growing strength as she realizes that she deserves better.–Susan Riley, Mount Kisco Public Library, NY
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Gr. 8-12 San Diego high-school student Samantha Pallas is a lonely, isolated girl. A gifted runner, she chooses not to excel at a sport she loves, and she has empty, meaningless sex with strange boys to try to feel something. Sam lives with her loving, but distracted, playboy father and his (unintentionally) pregnant girlfriend. Then Sam begins a relationship with a new boy at school, Farouk, whose mature sophistication is alluring and comforting. She soon discovers, though, that it's a lopsided love, with more feeling on her side than his. Lion's beautifully subtle style establishes a contemplative melancholy mood. Characters are dimensional and carefully drawn-- Sam's pain is understated but very real. Written in clear, distinctive language, this first novel will keep teens reading and savoring. Debbie Carton
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author
Melissa Lion earned an MFA in Creative Writing from Saint Mary’s College of California where she received the Agnes Butler Scholarship for Literary Excellence. Her stories have appeared in the Santa Monica Review, Other Voices, and The Crucifix Is Down, an anthology published by Red Hen Press. She is a native Californian who burns easily in the sun. She lives in San Diego, CA.


From the Hardcover edition.