18 Things — Jamie Ayres

"A touching story that will make you cherish each day and the ones you love." -Jaime Rush, New York Times bestselling author of the Hidden series


Can eighteen things save a life?
 
Olga Gay Worontzoff thinks her biggest problems are an awful name (after her grandmothers of course) and not attending prom with Conner, her best friend and secret crush since kindergarten.
 
Then Conner is killed in a freak boating accident and Olga feels responsible. When she downs an entire bottle of pills to deal with the emotional pain, her parents force her into counseling. There, her therapist writes a prescription in the form of a life list titled 18 Things. Eighteen quests to complete the year of her eighteenth birthday.
 
All she has to do is fire-walk, try out for the cheerleading squad, break a world record, and err . . . go on her first date. Good thing Nate, a new hottie in town, enters her life with perfect timing. He brings the fun factor to her list and helps her discover the beauty and strength inside herself, then complicates things by falling in love with her.
 
Just as she's finally embracing the joys of living life for the moment, her therapist reveals a terrifying secret and Olga's world is shaken. In the past year it took eighteen remarkable things to change a life, but nothing she believed about her mission is true.            

There's only one thing she knows for certain: her choices won't just affect her future, but all eternity.


       

• For an adventurous YA novel packed full of mythical creatures and folklore, try Legasea by Krystalyn Drown       

• For excellent YA Fantasy filled with magic, adventure, and love, look for Wilde's Fire by Krystal Wade