Andi Alperes is really screwed up---she blames herself for the death of her younger brother Truman. She is failing all of her classes at her special Brooklyn prep school, and her mom has gone crazy. All that's keeping her grounded is her music and guitar, and even those things are not helping like they should. As things start to come down around her, her father drags her to Paris so that she can work on her senior thesis. During her stay, Andi finds a diary written by Alexandrine Paradis during the French Revolution. The journal describes Alex's experiences as a player caring for Louis-Charles, the young boy prince imprisoned and the horrors that befell him and the rest of France during the Revolution. As she gets sucked into Alex's story, she begins to make connections to her own life and looks for answers through Alex's words.
This book floored me--it only took me two days to read this book. Donnelly sucked me into both Andi and Alexandrine's stories. Both characters are extremely relatable and have beautifully expressed voices. Additionally, the book hits some fairly hard subjects--drugs, party culture, and Revolution horrors--and does a wonderful job of addressing them without necessarily beating the reader over the head. Andi's revelation, at the end, is spectacular, and I think something people need to hear. I love it, and I will not spoil it for you. Just go read it.
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