SENSES WORKING OVERTIME

Author: Naomi Nash ISBN: 0843954043 7/2005 YOUNG TEEN Publisher: DORCHESTER/Smooch

Kaylee started her day on shaky footing. Now she's on the edge of catastrophe. To help a friend, she cut summer school and ventured solo into New York City, just in time for the decade's worst blackout. To make matters worse she has synesthesia-the connections in her brain are messed up, so she can't trust her senses. She couldn't be more in the dark. Closing her eyes, Kaylee makes a leap of faith. She decides to follow Ramon, the dangerous-looking boy whose voice smells like honeysuckle. But that's just the start. She still has to run the world's longest obstacle course. To beat her father home, she has seven hours to overcome crowds, chaos, carjackers, a relentless stalker.and an intense attraction to a boy who should be wrong but feels so right. The clock's ticking...

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

In SENSES WORKING OVERTIME, Kaylee gets stranded in Manhattan after a blackout. She's supposed to be in summer school and should have been home before her parents got home from work. She's running from the bully that brought her to the city and teams up with Ramon, a boy from the wrong side of the tracks, to attempt to return home to Brooklyn. Throughout the afternoon, Kaylee and Ramon tackle various events that sidetrack them from getting home and develop a friendship in the meantime.

SENSES WORKING OVERTIME is an exciting, action-packed story, featuring an extraordinary heroine in Kaylee. As result of Kaylee's harrowing day, she matures and accepts responsibility for her poor choices. She also develops a backbone, now unwilling to be intimidated by the bullies in her school. SENSES may just be Ms. Nash's best work to date. The reader sits on the edge of his seat as the tension develops. By introducing Ramon's little sister, a spunky 6 year old with a foul mouth and a genius talent for the violin, Ms. Nash brings in a bit of humor relief to an edgy and gripping story. By leaving the reader guessing as to Kaylee's decisions, the author has left the door open for another book featuring these characters. I, for one, would love to read it.

Kendra Patterson