Seconds by Bryan Lee O'Malley

Katie is the successful head chef of a restaurant named Seconds.  Everyone loves the food. But Katie is unsatisfied with her life.  All her friends who were with her when she opened Seconds have moved on with their lives, and Katie is surrounded by young-ins she barely knows.  She’s working on a new restaurant in a beautiful old building that’s in a not so great part of town, hoping a fresh start on her own will help with her mood. One night, Katie is visited by a strange girl who offers Katie a way to undo some of her past mistakes, but this becomes a slippery slope with major consequences.

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This story explores the concept of multiple realities and timelines based on our decisions.  Katie is able to undo mistakes, and her life then becomes the new reality, but there's no going back to before all the meddling began!  Katie really lives out the "shoulda-coulda-woulda" feeling we all suffer from on occasion 

The story was slow to start, but once the mechanism for correcting mistakes was introduced, the narrative picked up and became really interesting.   O’Malley’s signature cartoon-style is cute and complements the narrative voice excellently.

There is some sexual content, but no bits show, some language, including F words, and adult conversations.

Sara's Rating: 9/10
Suitability Level: Grades 11-12

Publisher: Ballantine Books (Penguin)
Publication Date: July 15, 2014
ISBN: 9780345529374 (Hardcover)

Tags: Rating: 9/10, Suitability: High School, Graphic Fiction, Surrealism, Culinary, Penguin