A Million Miles Away

Gr 9 Up—Kelsey Maxfield's identical twin sister, Michelle, is killed in a car crash during their senior year just after Michelle's boyfriend, Peter, has been deployed to Afghanistan. While coping with the loss and trying to get back to normal, Kelsey stumbles upon a Skype session with Peter. Not sure how to tell him about Michelle's death, she decides to keep it a secret and leads him to believe that she is Michelle. Kelsey carries on the long distance relationship. Eventually, she gets up the courage to relay the message through a video, only to find out that Peter never receives it, which leads to more problems. While the story holds true to the deception between Kelsey and Peter and is somewhat romantic, other issues are introduced when Kelsey finally comes clean, making the plot feel uneven and disjointed in places. The adult characters are forever absent and more wrapped up in themselves than the teens. Wondering how Peter will react to the deception will keep readers interested.