Empress of the World » (REPRINT)

Nicola Lancaster is spending eight weeks at the Siegel Institute Summer Program for Gifted Youth, a hothouse of smart, articulate, intense teenagers. She soon falls in with Katrina (Manic Computer Chick), Isaac (Nice-Guy-Despite-Himself), Kevin (Inarticulate Composer) . . . and Battle. Battle Hall Davies is a beautiful blonde dancer, and everything Nic isn't. The two become friends-and then, startlingly, more than friends. What do you do when you think you're attracted to guys, and then you meet a girl who steals your heart?

Book Magazine

When lonely fifteen-year-old Nicola Lancaster arrives at a gifted youth summer program, she hopes to make friends and meet the boy of her dreams. Much to her delight, she immediately falls in with an eccentric group of kids and, much to her surprise, she falls in love with the girl of her dreams, fellow student Battle Hall Davies. When the two start dating, Nic is overwhelmed by the realization that she's not who she always assumed she was. Is she straight, bisexual or a lesbian? While the dialogue is a little clunky and the characters are not well fleshed out, Ryan does a nice job of tapping into the questions a teenage girl might have about her budding sexuality.
Kristin Kloberdanz