Focused and driven 17-year-old competitive swimmer Tess Cooper has worked hard to “construct the Jenga tower of my life with perfect precision,” and the forthcoming summer is no exception. Tess plans to lifeguard at the local pool while training for the race that will determine whether she secures a college athletic scholarship and cement her future swimming career. Instead, a seizure sidelines Tess with an unexpected diagnosis of epilepsy, and shifting dynamics at both home and the pool test her resolve. While Tess’s parents argue about what epilepsy means for her future, best friend and swim teammate Mac withdraws. Tess finds herself reluctantly confiding in Charlie, her hot new neighbor who replaces Tess on the lifeguard stand. Romance adds tension to watertight plotting in this fast-paced, compelling novel from Nash (Lifeline), but it’s the sensitive explorations of life with an invisible disability that anchor this empathetic story. With help from a support group, Tess reconciles her ambition and her diagnosis, and makes space for her emotions, surfacing with a more balanced sense of self that drives the narrative toward a hopeful, satisfying conclusion. Nash’s acknowledgments address the author’s experience with epilepsy. Main characters read as white. Ages 14–up. (Mar.)

Gr 9 Up— Tess is a 17-year-old with a bright future. Though her family doesn't have much money, she's almost guaranteed a swimming scholarship from her preferred school, particularly if she performs well at nationals. She has caring parents and a loving, if quirky, older sister. Tess is training for nationals when a sudden seizure and hospitalization leave her life filled with uncharacteristic uncertainty. She struggles to navigate her new situation. She must surrender her driver's license and her lifeguarding job while she undergoes testing and evaluation for epilepsy. Her parents disagree over her safety protocols, her best friend and teammate suddenly becomes distant, and she meets a possible new boyfriend at the worst possible time. Written in the first-person, this novel is a short, concentrated look at both competitive swimming and epilepsy. Tess shows the commitment and stress of being a high-level athlete—a stress intensified by her seizure. She is, by turns, frightened, angry, despondent, and determined. With the exception of the requisite high-school mean girl, all of the characters have depth and speak with dialogue that rings true and current but doesn't come off as overly trendy. VERDICT Tess's story is compelling. Her medical visits, uncertainty, and eventual epilepsy diagnosis offer a realistic look at this hidden condition that is both enigmatic and common. The added fact that one in 26 people have epilepsy should make this a must-have for school and public libraries.— Lisa Taylor