The Infinity of You and Me by J. Q. Coyle

Alicia has a problem. And said problem has quite a few diagnoses attached to it, but basically she has a tendency to space out when faced with too many decisions. Or so she thinks. Alicia hallucinates other worlds - vivid hallucinations that sometimes include her father, who she hasn't seen since she was a little girl. She'd give anything for these visions to go away. To live a normal teenaged life. And her uncle, psychiatrist, and mother all think "normal" is a possibility for Alicia. But no amount of pills seems to be doing the trick. 

But what if that's because these hallucinations aren't hallucinations at all. What if Alicia has the ability to see and somehow travel to other worlds. Other existences - like ones where her father never left. Or ones where she's in very real danger. Or even ones where she has the power to save everyone around her from a terrible fate...

Readers, I thoroughly loved The Infinity of You and Me. From the very start, with Alicia trying to literally escape a sinking ship while also desperately trying to pass a Spanish exam, I was hooked! (If you haven't checked out the excerpt, be sure to head over to that post next.)

Alicia doesn't have it easy. Her father left when she was little and her teenage years have been plagued by increased instances of these fugue/dream states. Unfortunately they happen at quite inopportune moments and are gravely affecting her school work. Which is why she's failing multiple classes. And why she's deemed to be a problem child in school. And probably also why she only has one friend.

Her mother tries to help, as does her uncle - her father's brother -, but even before things really start rolling in the story, it's clear that Alicia doesn't quite trust her brilliant neuroscientist Uncle Alex. Maybe it's because his brother bailed on them or maybe it's because she doesn't want to be beholden to him. Or maybe it's because he's not really out to help her at all?

I loved the idea of the spandrels. (Read the book for explanation.) And I really loved the way the story played out. If you haven't checked out the excerpt post, then you probably missed the fact that J. Q. Coyle is a pseudonym for co authors Julianna Baggott (Pure) and Quinn Dalton (Midnight Bowling). The two definitely play well together in the writing sandbox, creating a seamless narrative that's super fast paced and super, crazy imaginative!