The year is 1996. Emma has just gotten a computer and so her friend Josh gives her an AOL CD-ROM to install. Once installed, Emma and Josh find a strange website called Facebook. It seems to tell them about their lives in 15 years. While Josh ends up marrying the hottest girl in their grade, Emma seems to be in an unhappy marriage with someone who is cheating on her. She becomes determined to change her future and end up happy (and hopefully with Cody, the hottest guy on the track team.)This story had so much going for it. First of all, it's written by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler. The premise is also cool - it's 1996, the internet is kind of new (I guess) and these kids stumble on Facebook and are completely confused by it. I loved the seamless writing. The narration flip flops between Josh and Emma (and I assume Jay wrote Josh and Carolyn wrote Emma - I could be wrong. Maybe they both wrote everything together.) but it flowed so well I really never thought about the fact that two people were writing it.But I kind of only liked the story. When Emma and Josh first discovered Facebook, everything seemed a little heavy handed and like "Oh my, why on earth would I write something so personal like my husband is cheating on me? This is insanity." I don't know. I was 15 in 1996 and if someone said something like that, I can guarantee it would have been my mother and not one of my friends. Once all that business was over the story went along nicely, but it just seemed like something was missing and then it all kind of just ended. It just seemed like a really strange way to a) warn teens about the kind of stuff they put on Facebook (and adults too because, seriously? I don't need to know if you can't afford cable and need to sell a table to buy groceries) and 2) to be happy with the present and be happy with yourself.I'd recommend it to teens who thing 1996 was the Stone Age, to adults in their late 20s and early 30s who want to remember AOL, and to those who like romance.
