REVISITING THE PAST — A REVIEW

What if you never got over your first love? What if the fact that he became a famous rock star and wrote songs dedicated to that love tugs at that special place in your heart? Especially when the lyrics are a constant reminder of how things ended. So would you try to meet up with him years later, to avenge those moments, or seek closure of some kind?

Katie Hollis has grown up since those high school days…sort of. And a part of her does want revenge, or at least to right some wrongs. So when her rock star love Jake comes home to Vermont, back where it all happened, she has to go there and try to figure things out.

Dedication follows this character as she revisits the past in alternating chapters that unfold from sixth grade on, reminding us of what happened to the characters, even as she zeros in on those pivotal moments that will finally bring closure. Love lost can be a fabulous theme, and trying to see what could happen if the lovers reconnected tells still another story.

But I was not impressed with how Katie ignored what her best instincts should have told her. An adolescent love hardly ever holds up to the reality of maturity, and trying to rebuild something that was created on illusions seldom has a happy ending. I was relieved that she finally grasped that, but following her quest lost me several chapters before the end. By then, I was no longer even slightly interested in her big epiphany. Three stars for this one.