You Have Seven Messages by Stewart Lewis

You Have Seven Messages
Stewart Lewis
Publisher: Delacorte
Released: September 13, 2011
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages: 272
Source: Cavalier House Books

It's been a year since Luna's mother, the fashion-model wife of a successful film director, was hit and killed by a taxi in the East Village. Luna, her father, and her little brother, Tile, are still struggling with grief.

When Luna goes to clean out her mother's old studio, she's stunned to find her mom's cell phone there—charged and holding seven unheard messages. As Luna begins to listen to them, she learns more about her mother's life than she ever wanted to know . . . and she comes to realize that the tidy tale she's been told about her mother's death may not be the whole truth.

To most people, Luna lives a life of luxury. With a film director father and a supermodel mother, she really does have it pretty good. Until, of course, her mother tragically dies in an accident while Luna is off at summer camp. Even though a year has passed since her dad broke the news, Luna still finds herself only going through the motions and not really living her life. She has so many questions about her mother's death and her last few months leading up to it, questions her dad refuses to answer. The more he balks, the more suspicious she becomes until she finally decides to find out for herself. When she visits her mother's studio and finds her cell phone with several unheard messages on it, Luna questions whether or not she really wants the answers.

While I had a hard time connecting with Luna, the story was well-paced and kept me invested. Luna was obviously a person of privilege, but I just couldn't believe some of the things that happened to her. (I realize that's really vague, but I don't want to spoil anything.) I felt much more connected to her little brother, Tile, who was incredibly adorable and a great supporting character despite his age. But as I said, the plot, though flawed, move quickly enough and carried me with it. Despite not relating to the main character much, I was invested enough to care about what ultimately happened to her.

One wouldn't think such a novel would have much of a romance in it, especially with it not even being mentioned in the synopsis, but this one did. I felt a little like it was thrown in just for the sake of having one. I didn't really get what was so appealing about Oliver, and while he definitely proved himself useful at times, I didn't believe his connection with Luna.

This novel may have fallen a little flat with me, but I still think it deserves a chance. The mystery and suspense definitely kept me reading through the end, and I'm sure others will enjoy it more than I did.