I want my life back. Or someone's life. I want a different past. On a warm, listless summer afternoon, Kyle Paxson sent five texts to a few chosen classmates. None of the girls responded —except one. Jamie was the only girl nice enough to give Kyle the time. And that night, deliberately and brutally, he killed her. On the eve of Kyle's sentencing a year later, all the other "chosen ones" are coping in various ways. But our narrator is full of questions, stuck somewhere between the horrifying past and the unknown future as she tries to piece together why she gets to live, while Jamie is dead. Now she finds herself drawn to Charlie, Jamie's boyfriend-knowing all the while that their relationship will always be haunted by what-ifs and why-nots. Is hope possible in the face of such violence? Is forgiveness? How do you go on living when you know it could have been you instead? Mary Crockett has crafted a powerful novel that's equally heart-wrenching and hopeful about the everyday violence that can forever change a life.

ISBN: 9780316523813