A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend

This is a story about friendship. About love. About traveling a thousand miles just to find yourself. And it’s a story about the craziest high school musical one quiet suburb has ever seen.

“As poignant as it is life-affirming and as tender as it is vibrant. A must read.”—Steve Kluger, author of My Most Excellent Year

For months, Cass Meyer has heard her best friend, Julia, a wannabe Broadway composer, whispering about a top-secret project. Then Julia is killed in a car accident, and Julia’s drama friends make it their mission to bring the project—a musical entitled TOTALLY SWEET NINJA DEATH SQUAD—to fruition.

But Cass isn’t one of the drama people. She can’t take a summer of swallowing her pride and painting sets, and she won’t spend long hours with Heather Galloway, the girl who rudely questioned Cass’s sexuality all through middle school and who has somehow landed the starring role.

So Cass decides to follow her original plan for a cross-country road trip with Julia. Even if she has a touring bicycle instead of a driver’s license, and even if Julia’s ashes are coming along in Tupperware. When Cass returns in late August she’s not the same person—and neither, she discovers, is Heather. In fact, it’s hard to tell what will happen to the play when they start falling for each other. . . .