Vibes by Amy Kathleen Ryan

For 2 years, Kristi has been able to hear other people's thoughts. It makes it hard for Kristi to have any close friends, but she's been alone for awhile now so she's used to the solitude.

Also, people think she's sort of weird with her heavy make-up, clothes that she makes herself from random items (some of which comes from the dumpster), and silent attitude.

After getting paired with an old crush - Gusty Peterson - for a partner project, Kristi battles with herself if Gusty thinks she's weird or attractive. The vibe between the two is hard for Kristi to grab, so she goes on a roller coaster ride with her inner thoughts.

When a new guy comes to her school, she realizes that Mallory (the new guy) is attracted to her. While Kristi isn't as attracted to him as she was with Gusty, Gusty is out of her league, so she goes along with Mallory to see if things could work out between them.

On top of all of Kristi's problems, her father who left home 2 years ago decides to come back and see Kristi and her mother. The news he brings with, though, definitely doesn't help Kristi's crazy world she suddenly lives in.

My Thoughts/Reflections
This book wasn't what I was expecting. There is a little bit of a twist at the end, which was nice, and I thought it would have more to do with music because of the cover. However, Kristi just listened to a lot of classical music when she didn't want to hear anyone's thoughts after a long day - it wasn't a huge part of the story.

I liked Gusty. He's a popular, good-looking guy on the outside, but he's also a shy, timid guy that no one realizes too often - except Kristi after she gets to know him through their project together.

Kristi is a girl that any teenage girl can relate to. She thinks she's overweight, she has her own personality and style of clothes that makes all of her classmates jealous, but she thinks they are making fun of her behind her back, and she has a rebellious side with her parents that all teenagers do, even if their parents don't realize it at the time.

I think this would be a great novel for teen girls. Even if the readers haven't experienced most of the events that Kristi went through, there was enough events that happened that any reader can relate to something that happens.

This was a good stand-alone book and I liked Ryan's style of writing: fast paced, easy to fly through, and relateable.