Review: Over and Over You

"I've been in love with the same boy for a thousand years. That's weird, especially since I'm only seventeen, and I can barely hold a guy's interest to the end of a five-minute conversation.
Ever since a psychic told Penny that she's been in love with the same guy for a thousand years, she's had nightmares. In every lifetime — over and over again — her mysterious boyfriend is present and so is her best friend, Diana. Both die young and their deaths are always Penny's fault. Can Penny change their fate—and her own? Will true love triumph?"
-Good Reads




Stats:

• Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
• Release date: June 1, 2005
• Page count: 187
• Unique elements: Protagonist's dreams interspersed throughout
• Would appeal to: history buffs (most notably, the French Revolution), fans of Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

Favorite quotes:

"I suddenly feel sick, like somebody told me I compulsively pick my nose in public without being aware of it."

"I step over the legs of people seated on the floor, as gracefully as a herd of elephants barreling over to a water hole."

"How do you tell your best friend that you're insane and casually fit it into everyday conversation?"

"Louis was a fat moron who couldn't even get it up."

Oddly enough, this is the first of two books in a row where I learned that you need to swim parallel to the beach and sort of diagonal (crossways) when you're caught in a riptide (the other is The Summer of Skinny Dipping). It's always good to have info. like that, in case I move to a beach or visit one more than once a year.

It was interesting that Penny just seemed to know things without ever having been exposed to them-- a nice tie to having past lives. She wrote her dreams in a dream journal, and I find dreams fascinating, often writing my own down before I forget the details.

The book was kind of like a puzzle: the same players are in each of Penny's dreams, including her best friend Di and a "millenium guy," but she has a hard time decoding the meanings, especially since Di dies in them all. I liked the things I learned about history and thought the past life concept was interesting enough to keep going. I didn't expect the ending, which I always love in books!

A relationship I thoroughly enjoyed was the one between Penny and her younger sister, Kalli. Kalli is a brat who thinks she's too good for Penny and often makes fun of her. However, when Kalli needs help, Penny is there.

I also liked that the Penny and Ryan, who become a couple, bond over their love of Pink Floyd!