So the premise is that Harper can tell what age other people will be when they die. Their death-age appears as a big old number on their forehead. As superpowers go, it's kind of sucky and depressing and she spends an awful lot of time avoiding all friendships and human interaction. Thatis until she meets Chloe and, after fighting it, soon falls in love. The only problem is, the number on Chloe's head is 16. And she'll be seventeen in a few short weeks.
It's kind of existential, which I suppose a book will be if it's dealing with philosophical questions like, is it better to be supremely happy just for a short time than just moderately okay for a really long time. It doesn't go over the top and end up as some dullard, impenetrable diatribe. It's kept light-ish and the lovely chemistry between Harper and Chloe is totally swoony.
I'll tell you what I really liked, and that was seeing an LGBT teen as the main character but with a storyline that doesn't revolve around their coming out. Don't get me wrong, coming-out stories totally have their place, but it was good to see a gay teen as The One With The Superpowers, as opposed to being cast as The Token Gay Best Friend, or worse, The One Who Dies.
The only things that bugged me were the fact that we (and Harper) have no clue as to where her ability comes from and also that the fact that the lead-up to the first kiss was so-o-o-o drawn out. I was like the pond creatures in The Little Mermaid - god, just hurry up and kiss the girl already.
Drawn-out sexual tension aside, however, this was still a really good book.
4 stars