Audrey, Wait!

When Audrey breaks up with her musician boyfriend, Evan, he is inspired to write a song about it, a catchy tune that launches his band to the top of the music charts—and that makes Audrey the target of paparazzi and gossip magazines—and the queen bee at school. Although Audrey tries to hide from fame, it finds her anyway (a first date with a co-worker ends with a police escort from a record store, where a crowd has trapped them). Audrey's phenomenal celebrity seems unlikely but she herself feels completely believable, and readers will find her both sympathetic and funny. Benway displays a keen ear for dialogue; this first novelist has a knack for showcasing her characters' wit as well as their sincere concern for one another. Right after Audrey hears Evan's song for the first time, for example, she asks her best friend, “So do I kill myself now, or do I wait and do it in front of Evan so he feels really, really, really bad?” “You're not going to kill yourself,” the friend replies. “Remember in health class, when they talked about how adolescents drink to mask pain? That's what you're going to do.” (Note to worried adults:they drink a milkshake.) Irresistible. Ages 12–up. (Apr.)