The Opposite of Invisible -- Liz Gallagher

I've already read this one twice since receiving it.  I loved it the first time and I loved it the second time.  It's one that I will (that I already have!) re-read, again and again.

From The Opposite of Invisible:

My center of gravity is off.

Simon is the opposite of Jewel.  Isn't he?  Jewel hails from Planet Artist/Thinker.  Simon?  Planet Popular?  Planet Untouchable?

I try to pretend it's normal, me and Jewel standing in a crowd with Simon.  I try to ignore what's going on in my body.  The way I seem to be floating in the space between two very different guys.

It's the first time I've ever wished Jewel would go away.

It's a simple story, simply told, about a girl and a boy and another boy.  About Alice and Jewel, who have been best friends since they were three; Alice, who wants to explore the world outside of her Jewel-cocoon and Jewel, who wants more than a friendship with Alice.

It has a fantastic sense of place -- I've never been to Seattle, but now I feel like I have.  And Alice comes to life so immediately that I believed in her from the first page, that I didn't think once about the author (sorry about that, Liz Gallagher, but for real, it's a good thing!).  I knew from the beginning how I wanted things to end, didn't know until the very last page how they actually would end, and when I reached it, the ending was just so... right.

It's a quietly gorgeous, lovely* book.  Fantastically fantastic.  Very definitely not to be missed.

*There's that word again!  Am I getting soft in my dotage?