Call Me Calista

"There are 100 billion stars in the universe. Perhaps more than 100 billion stars. My name is Calista James and I'm just one 15 year old girl hoping that somehow, someway, somewhere in the vast expanse of darkness that our green and blue planet is housed in, maybe there is a star for me."

The San Fernando Valley is as nurturing as Calista James' stepmother. It's 2003 and Calista, an almost 16 year old girl whose true loves are music and astronomy, is finding herself wishing more and more for a life outside of the Valley and far away from the stepfamily she lives with for lack of her father and mother. Summer of '03 is expected to be like every other summer since Calista was eleven: hot, dry, and disappointing as Calista sees her life heading nowhere beautiful. However, when Calista gets a job at a record store for the summer, she makes some odd discoveries about her questionable past that launch her on the road trip of a lifetime with her two best friends and an unlikely love interest. Will Calista learn to love again after all she has been through? Or will she deny a fresh start like the Valley denies rain?

"Call me Calista or don't call me at all," the title character is insisting by the end of this riveting coming-of-age tale.