Title: 4 to 16 Characters

Author: Kelly Hourihan

Type of book: Young Adult

I got this book as an ARC through Netgalley.

Jane's mother died and her father was an alcoholic. She had managed to make one friend in the real world. Instead of handling her grief she escaped into the world online by creating different personas.

The choice of narration was interesting. The entire story is told from online with fanfiction, blogs, IMs, and chatrooms. In the long run this might limit the audience. I have a little experience with some of these things, but I was not completely familar with all of the language. The voice did take some time to get used to and I did get tripped a couple of times.

Jane had three main personas that we as readers saw. They each had different personalities and interests. As the story continued it became obvious that each personality was a different way for her to deal with everything that was happening in her real life.

I did have a problem with her attitudes toward and about school. She was supposed to be incredably inteligent, but she did not see the value of school. I realize this was just a method of her unconciously calling out for help, but in the end it came off as annoying.

After everything I give this book 3 stars out of 5.