THE LOCKET

All Katie Mottola wants—all she’s ever wanted—is to be the girlfriend of her first love, varsity-basketball superstar Isaac Tayte. Basking in his reflected athletic glory is enough for her, but when Isaac discovers Katie’s drunken hookup with their mutual best friend–for-life, Mitch, he dumps her on their anniversary. Heartbroken and regretful, Katie makes a fateful wish on her grandmother’s enchanted locket, turning back the clock two weeks, so she can avoid kissing Mitch and set everything right again. Of course, messing with the space-time continuum yields dire consequences, and, most unfortunately for readers, Katie’s consequences make no sense and only highlight the obviousness of the plot (selfless Katie clearly belongs with sensitive musician Mitch, not self-obsessed jock Isaac). For example, in the redo past Katie creates, the smartest boy in school is suddenly—and pointlessly—a slacker pothead. Why? After another time-turn causes a devastating accident, Katie finally grasps that she can’t change the past and she must take charge of her own decisions and relationships, but by then, most readers will be long past caring. (Fiction. YA)