The Future of Us by Jay Asher & Carolyn Mackler

Josh and Emma have been neighbors for as long as they can remember and up until the incident last November they were best friends. Now it is May 1996 and they haven't been in each other's houses in six months. Emma just received a computer from her father and so Josh brings over an AOL CD-ROM that she can download to get 100 hours of free Internet. What she didn't expect was to get access to a strange website called Facebook. Sure, you know what Facebook is, but did you know it wasn't actually launched until 2004?

As Emma and Josh begin to investigate this Facebook, they realize what they are seeing is their future selves in 2011, fifteen years in the future. And everytime they log on or refresh Facebook their future is a little different.

If you could see your future, would you like it? Would it make you want to change the present? How would it affect your relationships with others, and most importantly for Josh and Emma, the future of us?

Why I picked up the book: In May 1996, I was a sophomore in high school and did NOT have my own computer until the summer before my junior year of college in 2000! I remember going to my other parents' house to use their computer to type papers and listening to that horrible pinging dial of the Internet when my younger brother would log on. We never used AOL but constantly got the CD-ROMs in the mail. (when did that stop anyway??) I wonder if any of my teens would even remember the sound of dial-up, which I haven't had since 2003.

Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler are rockstar YA authors so of course, I had to read this! Plus it is a change from the dystopian, zombies, and vampires I've been reading lately.

Why I finished it: I'm a sucker for this type of novel. It was like brain candy and just want I needed. Like I mentioned, I kept thinking about myself in high school and would I have been content with where I am today (by the way, I am loving my life right now, but again what would my 16 year old self think?).

I'd give it to: fans of realistic fiction with a small amount of romance (nothing over the top). Teens who like to think about what their future will be like and adults who can look back and remember how they felt at 16 about their future life.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

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