Like Never and Always

May 14, 2018
High school junior Olivia “Liv” Burnham is out for a night of fun with her best friend Morgan in Renton, Ga., when a car accident changes everything. Liv wakes up hospitalized and in Morgan’s body, her own body long since buried. Living Morgan’s life appears to be the only way to stay out of a psychiatric unit, yet Liv quickly realizes just how much Morgan kept secret—and the dangerous trouble Morgan was courting while trying to investigate her mother’s death. Liv seeks out some answers while navigating the complicated particulars of life in a new body with its own memories and history. Liv also feels torn over her feelings for two brothers—one of whom was Liv’s boyfriend before the crash, the other Morgan’s. This suspenseful science fiction thriller is a fresh take on the standard body-swapping story and comes with a few surprisingly dark twists. Liv’s fearful and emotional reactions to her predicament ring true, and it immediately draws the reader into a tender—but conflicted—romance that tugs at the heartstrings. Ages 13–18. Agent: Laura Bradford, Bradford Literary Agency.

May 15, 2018
A teen swaps bodies with her best friend after a fatal car crash, but with a twist.Rich, stylish, high school senior Morgan Frost and her best friend, whip-smart junior Olivia Burnham, have bright futures ahead of them until Olivia is killed in a car crash. She is survived by Morgan and the girls' boyfriends, brothers Clay and Nathan Claymore. Well...not so fast. Olivia is alive, but she's trapped inside Morgan's long-legged body instead of her own petite frame. Horrified, she tries to get a handle on Morgan's privileged life, eventually turning up sordid secrets, including her friend's affair with a much older, and very creepy, politician and disturbing details surrounding the death of Morgan's mother 10 years ago. Olivia, who narrates, deep dives into the darkness that lurked underneath Morgan's picture-perfect exterior, putting herself in danger in the process. Olivia's struggle to avoid losing herself as she's forced to live Morgan's very different life is realistically rendered, and Aguirre (The Wolf Lord, 2018, etc.) builds considerable suspense, but the abrupt payoff after so much time spent digging into Morgan's mother's suspicious death is disappointing. While the main characters are white, diversity can be found in Morgan's multiethnic group of artistic friends.The book offers a compelling twist on the body-swap trope, but this still doesn't quite elevate an otherwise standard thriller. (Romantic thriller. 14-18)

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June 1, 2018
Grades 9-12 In Aguirre's romantic suspense novel, a body swap during a fatal car crash sparks a love triangle between two brothers and a girl with two lives. Olivia awakens in a hospital bed, confused to see her best friend Morgan's father and boyfriend at her side. She's horrified to learn that Olivia died in the crash, and the mirror confirms her fears: she's trapped in Morgan's body, as Morgan must have been in hers. Olivia struggles to inhabit Morgan's radically different life, from her vegan diet to loveless home life, while desperately longing for her own. Morgan's life is full of hidden traps and dark deals, dedicated to proving her mother didn't commit suicide, a dangerous puzzle left for Olivia. Meanwhile, Olivia develops feelings for Morgan's boyfriend, Clay, the brother of Olivia's boyfriend, Nathan. The steamy romance that results takes precedence over the otherwise strong thriller element. Olivia's grief, both for Morgan and her own lost life, is perfect in its visceral poignancy, though the ending, in which everything is conveniently tied up, is disappointingly anticlimactic.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2019
After a serious car accident, Olivia wakes up--but discovers that her consciousness survived the crash in the body of her best friend, Morgan. Suddenly submerged in Morgan's privileged life, Olivia discovers unnerving secrets about the girl she thought she knew. The novel's central mystery, although suspenseful, doesn't really pay off, though other elements of this body-swap thriller will satisfy romance and psychological-thriller fans alike.

(Copyright 2019 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)