→ finished ← Claustrophobic and agoraphobic, Alaska Gouramie doesn't leave the house much. She whiles her days away nurturing her goldfish, Gordon. Her life is passing her by. Elver Harrison James is scared of fish. He won't go near the pond at the bottom of his garden. He will do anything to stay away from those water-loving freaks. Alaska's mother forces her to leave the house. It's just a trip to the park, no big deal. Until Alaska falls in the pond. And Elver is the only one around. Teen Fiction #118

I cover my mouth. The sensation of his lips against mine is still very apparent, real, earth-shattering. Shaken, my voice peels out from beneath my fingers, "Did you just-" "Yeah.." He grips the back of my head, threads his long, nimble fingers through my unruly hair and draws me closer to his face, "I kissed you." He removes my hand from my mouth, pads my bottom lip with his thumb, "Mind if I do it again?" "You may not." Hero has her fair share of issues. She holds conversations with kitchenware, works as a phone sex operator (while lacking the proper experience), and ninjas her way into boy's restrooms. But her problems triple the moment she learns that the vacant house across the lane is now occupied with new neighbors. She finds her routine interrupted by a particular boy, her absentee mother making a comeback seventeen years late, her bestfriend blinded by infatuation and her own feelings being tested; could this girl possibly live up to her name and somehow overcome?