4 to 16 Characters

by Kelly Hourihan

[Joni Reads]

What a creative concept for a novel! I feel the concept of writing a book using only the main character's internet activity really helped me connect to the character, Jane. It was fun to read about her fangirling over a tv show called Lost to Tomorrow or LtT. And to read her private online diary entries about all the different online personas she has. Rachel is the one she uses most often. Rachel is a college student, is outgoing, with two parents, a little sister and a dog and she has a boyfriend that she refers to as "The Boy" She is the persona in which Jane posts her LtT fanfiction.

In real life Jane is an awjward and shy teen whose mom passed away and whose dad is an alcoholic. She goes to a special school for kids with learning disabilities and she has no friends in real life. That is until Gary comes along. Just as akward as Jane he forges a friendship with her and no one is more amazed than Jane herself. Combine a real life friendship with a growing friendship between Rachel and another LtT fan and Jane is finding it much harder to hide behind the internet. But to lose her online personas means taking a good long look at what her REAL life has become and Jane is not sure she is ready to do that just yet.

One of the things this book deals with is an internet addiction. Jane is literally online every second she is at home. She even sneaks to her neighbors house while they are away on vacation to use their computer after her dad takes hers away. You can see how Jane is hiding for her life and I can understand why and I was just rooting for her this whole book.

I loved Gary. He was so awkward but also so good for Jane. He made ger break away from the computer for a bit by taking her out on outings which Jane insists were not dates. Gary is a competive skeeballer and he takes Jane to arcades to teach her how to play and show her the ins and outs of how this game was turned into a sport. It's so entertaining to read the interactions between them that I couldn't stop smiling.

The LtT fanfictions were the only part I did not like. Since it's not a real show they were hard to follow and understand and I admit to just skimming them and not fully reading them as they did not capture my attention and just made me confused. But I have to say that is the only negative about this book.

I would love read more books written in this format. It was a very fun read.