Seventeen-year-old Melanie Kennicut is beautiful. Her entire life
revolves around this beauty because her overly controlling mother has
been dragging her to casting calls and auditions since she was four
years old. According to Joanne Kennicut, Melanie was born to follow in
her footsteps. But Melanie never wanted this life. When a freak car
accident leaves her with facial lacerations that will require plastic
surgery, she can't help but wonder if this is the answer to her prayers.
For the first time in her life, she has a chance to live like a normal
teenager‹at least for a little while‹away from the photo shoots and
movie sets that have dominated her entire existence. But after Melanie
allows her best friend to come to the house to see her, Joanne decides
to hide her daughter in Montana for the remainder of the summer. There,
Melanie won't be seen by anyone they know, and her face will heal in
time for the scheduled surgery in late August. Joanne's plan backfires,
however, when Melanie meets Sam, a Native American boy hired by the
home's owner to tend to the property. Sam is nothing like the Hollywood
boys Melanie knows‹he¹s poor, his father's a drunk who possesses a
bizarre gift inherited from a Kootenai Shaman, and his only brother
disappeared into the mountains after the death of their mother eight
years before. What transpires over a mere 36 hours after Sam and Melanie
meet changes both of their lives in ways they never thought possible.
USA Best Book Awards: Fiction: Young Adult, Finalist
