By Adrienne Stoltz and Ron Bass (no website found)Available now from Razorbill (Penguin)
Review copy
Adrienne Stoltz and Ron Bass are debut authors, but they are neither new to writing nor collaborating. They've been writing screenplays together for years. Their time in the business definitely adds authenticity to Maggie's experiences as a young, talented actress trying to get a breakout part.
Maggie is only one of the narrators of LUCID. The other is Sloane. Only one of the girls is real, and both girls belief themselves to be the real one. Whenever they go to sleep, they dream the other girl's life. Maggie lives in New York with her often absent mother and younger sister. She doesn't go to school, instead opting for a GED so she can focus on her career. Her life changes when she meets two guys: talent agent Thomas and film student Andrew. Sloane is a normal girl, living in Connecticut. Bill, her best friend, died the year before and she's still recovering from his death. The hot new guy might help her escape her funk, but it means further denying the feelings she has for other best friend Gordy.
As I'm not a fan of love triangles, I wasn't overjoyed to get two for the price of one. But I was intrigued enough by the rest of LUCID to give that aspect of the story a pass. It's not obvious which girl is fake. (There was one scene that gave it away for me, and I'm curious to find out what gives it away for other readers.) Both Maggie and Sloane's lives are pretty fully realized. They have family, friends, hobbies, post-high school goals - neither is one dimensional.
It makes reading LUCID sort of painful, because you know one of the girls has to go away in the end. (Living a second life in your dreams, to the point where you can't believe it isn't real, is sort of crazy.) Both girls have their bad sides, but I didn't want either girl to disappear just because of a few character faults.
LUCID is the perfect read for anyone looking for a good psychological, character-driven tale. It's full of good and bad boys, cute and ugly dogs, grief, anger, and hope for the future. I had fun reading it and hope Stoltz and Bass decided to collaborate on a young adult novel again.
