2016 Best Book Awards: YA Fiction, Finalist
“In alternating chapters, the present-tense, frequently purple narrative of the vividly drawn Xan and Lila is urgent, keeping the intensity taught. An intense, at-times overwrought romance for genre fans.”
―Kirkus Reviews
“Ms. Stevens’s first novel is so intriguing . . . a romantic fantasy between two separate worlds. Full of imagination, mystery, and possibility, it leaves you with a sense of danger, fear, and hope all at the same time―and keeps you thinking, ‘what if . . . ’”
―Rene Steven, primary school librarian, Brookfield Academy
What if, after you died, you had a chance to come back? Fix the one fatal mistake that turned everything around. One more chance with the one you left behind?
Dying wasn’t on sixteen-year-old Xander Hemlock’s summer to-do-list. Finding ways to spend more time with his girlfriend, Lila, was the most critical thinking he planned on doing. That was before he found himself trapped in a realm of darkness with thirty days to convince Lila he’s not dead, well, not completely.
As Xan tries to show Lila she isn’t alone, she struggles to comprehend why six months ago her life was perfect, she was on her way to becoming a professional dancer, her parents were still married, and her boyfriend was alive. Now, with her anorexic tendencies stronger than ever, she must decide which is the lesser of two evils; letting go, or holding on to the unreasonable, yet overpowering feeling that Xan is trying to tell her something. Within Reach is a story of two teenagers discovering that sometimes, it takes more than one lifetime to get it right. Join Lila and Xan as they struggle to find the inner strength to trust in their intuition. It will leave you believing in the impossible and questioning life as you have always known it.
Author: Jessica Stevens
Publication Date: August 11, 2015
