Sweet

April 27, 2015
Seventeen-year-old Laurel is on the famous “Cruise to Lose,” thanks to her best friend Vivika. Despite a ship packed with famous celebrities—including former child-star Tom Forelli—and affluent passengers eager to try a revolutionary new sweetener, Solu, Laurel doesn’t feel pressured to shrink her size-14 body. Switching perspectives between Laurel and Tom as the seven-day trip progresses, Laybourne (Monument 14) introduces multiple characters who range from Timothy Almstead, the conniving CEO of Solu, to Jaideep, a waiter who becomes a life-saving ally. Passengers’ miraculous weight loss turns deadly as the sweetener induces an addiction so intense that fights, debauchery, and cannibalism soon follow. Scared for skeletally thin Vivika and even more frightened at the prospect of Solu’s global release, Tom and Laurel battle zombielike addicts to warn others about its effects. Some oversimplified dialogue and lackluster descriptions aside, Laybourne delivers a candy-coated horror novel that alternates between increasingly violent scenes and Laurel and Tom’s poignant romance. Though the message is plain—love yourself as you are—the ramifications of not doing so are terrifyingly clear. Ages 13–up. Agent: Susanna Einstein, Einstein Literary Management.

April 1, 2015
Celebrities, romance, and carnage on the high seas. It's pretty skeevy for a meet-cute, but when 17-year-old Laurel vomits on 19-year-old Tom's shoes, it's destiny-and foreshadows flavors to come. Laurel's on this luxury weight-loss cruise to keep a friend company; Tom's there as a television host, trying to wrangle his child-star career into something more serious. The ritzy cruise is sponsored by Solu, a sugar substitute and weight-loss catalyst that's supposedly a "solu"-tion for fatness. Tom declines Solu because of his strict "clean eating" diet; Laurel declines from seasickness and wariness. At first, Solu's effects are merely preposterous, causing a 13-pound weight loss in two days. But soon passengers become walking, tooth-dropping cadavers, so addicted-think heroin times meth times vampires-that they're rioting and committing frenzied murder to drink one another's Solu-filled blood. With former competitors from Survivor and The Bachelorette aboard, the who-will-survive plot works well, fast-paced yet farcically cheesy. (Tom can identify someone's "schizoid break" because "I did a guest star on Criminal Minds"; then again, according to Laurel, he's "so frickin' manly.") Tom and Laurel alternate narrating, their first-person voices indistinguishable. The wealthy passengers' superior obliviousness seeps into the text, as when Laybourne calls the multiracial ship crew "a walking United Nations" and a black girl "strong and angry." A glitzy bloodbath with the most ironic title ever. (Horror. 13 & up)

March 1, 2015

Gr 9 Up-A posh, seven-day celebrity cruise begins as a pre-launch publicity party for Solu, a groundbreaking new artificial sweetener. Passengers are promised they will lose five to 10 percent of their body fat in a matter of days. Over the course of the week, they lose a lot more than fat. Celebrity TV host and emcee of the festivities, Tom, is 19 and handsome. When he shows interest in Laurel, 17, she is excited but cautious. As a tender romance between the two develops, a strict diet and a case of sea sickness keep them from Solu. Most passengers, however, eat Solu with every meal. The weight loss is dramatic, but so, too is the unexpected side effect of rage. The ensuing addiction to the substance (sucking spilled Solu out of the carpet, anyone?) yields homicidal actions-and worse. As dead bodies pile up, Tom and Laurel realize it is up to them to get off the ship and warn the world about Solu before its widespread public release in a few days. Tom and Laurel are sympathetic characters with personal histories, hang-ups, and hopes. Laybourne's fictional world highlights themes of friendship, the culture of celebrity, and addiction. The horror bits (stated but not described gratuitously) push the story to the border between realism and supernatural horror but in such a believable way that readers will have second thoughts the next time they tear open a packet of sweetener. VERDICT A finely knit narrative in which romance pairs perfectly (somehow) with societal horror.-Jennifer Prince, Buncombe County Public Libraries, NC

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2015
Grades 8-11 Solu is a new sweetener that does double duty: it sweetens and helps people lose weight by shrinking fat cells. It's the diet invention that could help solve the world's obesity problem. To launch Solu, the makers have created an exclusive seven-day cruise, for which Laurel and her best friend, Viv, are part of the crew. Former child-star Tom Forelli is emceeing the cruise, offering the world an exclusive look at this wonder sweetener. As the cruise continues, both Laurel and Tom notice strange reactions and addictions forming in the passengers. Is Solu the miracle it's promised to be or something more deadly? The tale is told in alternating chapters, and Tom and Laurel have their own reasons for not trying Solu. Combining mystery with a bit of romance and a peek into Hollywood's obsession with being thin, Laybourne creates an interesting commentary on society's addiction to weight loss and diets. Although the real mystery and action take a while to pick up speed, the plot gains a nice momentum and will keep readers engaged.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)