Carpe Diem

Cornwell, Autumn.  Carpe Diem.  New York:  Square Fish, 2007.  Print.

From the minute she wakes up in the morning, all the way to the minute she goes to bed, sixteen-year-old Vassar Spore eats, breathes, and lives planning.  With her heart set on becoming valedictorian, maintaining her 5.4 GPA, and getting into her namesake college, Vassar does not have time for much else.  When her eccentric artist grandmother sends her a ticket to Southeast Asia for her birthday, Vassar can not image spending her summer swatting flies and applying sunscreen.  However, by some power unknown to her, her grandmother forces (aka blackmails) her parents into sending her.  Soon Vassar is in the middle of the Asian jungle, where not even careful planning is always enough to save you from falling in love.

This YA story was just wonderful. It had a fine balance of humour, lovable characters, adventure, and lets face it – a great plot.  Kudos to Cornwell on her first novel.  If the rest are anything like this, consider them sold!