Karre, Elizabeth. No Regrets. Minneapolis: Darby Creek, 2014.  ISBN 9781467744805. $14.99. Gr. 9-12.

Daughter of a teen mother and gambling addicted father, Layla strives to finish high school and go on to college. A typical teenager, Layla has a love interest, Marquis, a biracial young man she meets while on summer break in Chicago.  As Marquis is visiting his father and Layla is visiting her extended family, they forge a relationship.  Marquis asks Layla to leave everything behind and join him on the reservation where he lives with his mother. She says no, citing her reasons such as finishing high school.  However she does not want the relationship to end.  Marquis has not contacted or seen Layla since the day they said goodbye.  Layla, a junior in high school, is repeatedly visited by a mysterious but strangely familiar man who grants her the gift of time travel.  Skeptical but unwilling to give up on what could have been had she said “yes”, Layla tries time travel.  The time travel proves to be physically grueling, but Layla needs to know if she will see Marquis again. Giving up her aspirations of school and track, the time travel takes Layla on a journey to find out her future.  A high interest, low-level novel, No Regrets is initially a confusing storyline with inferred details.  Struggling readers may become frustrated with the lack of straightforward details. Part of the The Gifts series, this Darby Creek novel engages the reader by creating characters who readers can assimilate easily with and who enjoy paranormal stories. Layla is a shallow character, who regrets a decision she has made.  Many readers will be able to sympathize with this situation. More titles are available in The Gifts series.

Realism; Fantasy            Brooke Gerlach, Manheim Central Middle School