Sing Me to Sleep (review)

She used to be known as "the Beast," but now Beth has undergone a draconian makeover at the hands of her fellow choirmembers, and she's become a statuesque beauty. As a result, she begins to draw attention from boys other than her loyal and adoring old friend Scott; in fact, at a choir competition in Europe, she embarks on a whirlwind romance with handsome Derek, a talented musician in a competing group. Returning home doesn't put an end to their love, but Beth grows puzzled and suspicious of Derek's evasiveness, until she eventually discovers the truth—Derek has cystic fibrosis, and his days are numbered. The book is overly diffuse in focus, with too much time devoted to Beth's miseries at school, her transformation, and a weirdly occasional plotline about her own poorly explained genetic issues. What readers will relish, however, is the gloriously contrived and melodramatic romance; alert genre fans will recognize from Derek's first suppressed cough that he's no drug addict, as the sheltered Beth thinks, but a sufferer from some kind of contemporary consumption that will carry him off in grand style, and they'll know exactly what kind of ride they're in for. The relationship is tortured in the finest sentimental traditions, as the otherwise flawless Derek yanks Beth around cruelly out of a desire to keep his secret, and the two passionate lovebirds smolder and fondle but remain determinedly virginal. Readers patient enough to get past the slow start and digressions will likely revel in the Twilight-oid overwrought love story and the Love Story–esque finish, which consoles even as it pulls its punches by leaving a grieving Beth to the loving care of eternally faithful, extremely handsome Scott.