Dead Girl Walking

Singleton, Linda Joy. Dead Girl Walking. 2008. 312 p. ISBN 978-07397-14059.  978-0738714059. Available as an eBook. Ask me for details.

When Amber gets hit by a mail truck immediately after receiving her acceptance letter from her preferred university, and, more importantly, the scholarship that will pay for it, she finds herself in a pleasant surrounding with her grandmother and Cole, her dog. Grandmother tells her she’s happy to see her, but it’s not her time. Amber must go back because she has a lot of life left to live. “Take a left at the tree on your way back,” said Grandmother. Only Amber has never been good with directions, and she takes a right.

Now Amber finds herself in Leah Montgomery’s body. Leah is the queen of the school. She the prettiest, the most liked, and has amazing hair, eyes, and an amazingly skinny yet toned body. Amber quickly discovers that Leah attempted suicide, and that her own body lays in a coma at the hospital. She’s got two days to find a way back, otherwise she’ll be stuck in Leahs’ body forever.

She quickly discovers that Leah’s life is far from being perfect, with an alcoholic mother, a brat of a little brother, and a father whose hands wander too much. Locked in her house without any means of communication, she must find a way out of the Montgomery’s mansion, and let someone know that she’s not really Leah but Amber, and she’s not dead.

This book is a fun look at the interesting premise of switching lives with someone else, except that in this case Amber has no counterpart living in her own body. Can Amber manage to save herself before time is up? 

Be sure to check out Book 2 of the series, Dead Girl Dancing.