Short Synopsis
Carley Wells is not fond of reading, so her parents commission a book to be written for her that she's sure to love. However, Carley loves Hunter Cay, who drowns himself in booze, Vicodin, and F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Full Synopsis
To Carley Wells, words are the enemy—her tutor's innumerable SAT flashcards; her personal trainer's "fifty-seven pounds overweight" assessment; and the endless reading assignments from her English teacher, Mr. Nagel. When Nagel reports to her parents that she has answered "What is your favorite book?" with "Never met one I liked," they decide to fix what he calls her "intellectual impoverishment." They will commission a book to be written just for her—one she'll have to love—that will impress her teacher and the whole town of Fox Glen with their family's devotion to the arts. They will be patrons—the Medicis of Long Island. They will buy their daughter The Love of Reading.

Impossible though it is for Carley to imagine loving books, she is in love with a young bibliophile who cares about them more than anything. Anything, that is, but a good bottle of scotch. Hunter Cay, Carley's best friend and Fox Glen's resident golden boy, is becoming a stranger to her lately as he drowns himself in F. Scott Fitzgerald, booze, and Vicodin.

When the Wellses move struggling writer Bree McEnroy into their mansion to write Carley's book, Carley's sole interest in the project is to distract Hunter from drinking and give them something to share. But as Hunter's behavior becomes erratic and dangerous, she finds herself increasingly drawn into the fictional world Bree has created and begins to understand for the first time the power of stories—those we read, those we want to believe in, and most of all, those we tell ourselves about ourselves. Stories powerful enough to destroy a person. Or save her.

"[A] bold outing." ---Library Journal

"A wholly original and wonderful first novel about growing up in the strangest of worlds, and the incredible power of storytelling to make that world livable.... A joy from start to finish." ---Laura Dave, author of The Divorce Party

"At last, a novel for those of us who love both Buffy the Vampire Slayer and F. Scott Fitzgerald." ---Leah Stewart, author of The Myth of You and Me

"Propelled by razor-sharp wit, Gibson lovingly skewers two self-obsessed classes: the upper crust and the literary." ---Glen David Gold, author of Carter Beats the Devil

"Raudman ever so slowly creates personas to match the two teens who are growing up and finding themselves." ---AudioFile