Torrey Grey has it all: popularity, successful beauty vlogging, and great style. It all changes when her younger sister dies while in the middle of helping her with a vlog video. Suddenly, her family is moving to Texas to get away from the pain, and the Internet is going crazy waiting to see if she will continue her videos. With all the pressure going on around her to keep up appearances and not act like her heart is still breaking inside, she starts to wonder more and more what is really important to her in life.

CAN'T LOOK AWAY by Donna Cooner is a moving story about a young girl who just lost her sister. I love Torrey's passion for her beauty vlog. It is interesting to see how it plays into her life before and after the tragedy and how it contributes to her world view. The complexity and realness of the relationship between Torrey and her sister through the flashbacks is another strong point, and it makes Torrey a wonderfully relatable character. She is far from perfect, even shallow at times, but she has a good heart underneath it all that slowly starts to shine more and more throughout the story.

The romance is a lovely touch to the story line. Luis is a fascinating character with his family's profession, and I love the connection it helps spark between him and Torrey. The focus is still on Torrey's grieving and learning to adjust in her new life, but the added romance is still a nice highlight.

Overall, CAN'T LOOK AWAY is beautiful inside and out, and I'm eager to read more of Donna Cooner's work. I would recommend it for anyone looking for a unique contemporary.

Book Summary

Donna Cooner establishes herself as our own Jodi Picoult in this timely tale of sisters, loss, and redemption.

Torrey Grey is famous. At least, on the internet. Thousands of people watch her popular videos on fashion and beauty. But when Torrey's sister is killed in an accident -- maybe because of Torrey and her videos -- Torrey's perfect world implodes.

Now, strangers online are bashing Torrey. And at her new school, she doesn't know who to trust. Is queen bee Blair only being sweet because of Torrey's internet infamy? What about Raylene, who is decidedly unpopular, but seems to accept Torrey for who she is? And then there's Luis, with his brooding dark eyes, whose family runs the local funeral home. Torrey finds herself drawn to Luis, and his fascinating stories about Día de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead.

As the Day of the Dead draws near, Torrey will have to really look at her own feelings about death, and life, and everything in between. Can she learn to mourn her sister out of the public eye?