The Future Of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler

It's 1996 and very few high school students have ever used the internet. Facebook will not be invented until several years in the future. Emma just got a computer and an America Online CD. She and her best friend Josh power it up and log on - and discover themselves on Facebook in 2011. Everybody wonders what they'll be like fifteen years in the future. Josh and Emma are about to find out.

To be able to see your future would be very tempting; to see it online, before there was such a thing, would be weird. But that's what happened to Emma when she boots up her new computer for the first time. The descriptions of Facebook were like some sort of inside joke, as all the future references made sense to me but meant nothing to them. That was the main reason I had to read this, and ultimately enjoyed it. 

The whole 'being able to see your future' raised moral implications of meddling with the future - personally, I'd be scared to even check, but I think that curiosity would eventually win. I cannot blame Emma and Josh for being fascinated and confused by their discoveries and even though on some level I understand why their reacted the way they did, sometimes it seemed stupid and reckless. For example, Emma wanted to experiment with little changes like declaring she would never move to Ohio and see what that did in the future. While I understand why Josh worried about the implications, little changes like that happen all the time and change the future; just because you know about it, doesn't mean you should worry. 

Anyway, Emma and Josh had been best friends for years but a badly timed come-on made things awkward. I still liked their relationship, even if it was strained at times. Emma was sort of emotionally distant, but after her parents divorce I'm not surprised she had trouble expressing herself. And Josh was very sweet, but naive and awe-struck with his future wife. Speaking of which, he didn't have the moral high ground when fighting with Emma about changing their futures, not after what he did to meet Sydney and ensure their future together just because she's hot. 

It had a somewhat predictable HEA, but I still enjoyed it, especially as I wasn't entirely sure it would happen in time! The typical teenage drama was balanced with the science fiction of meddling in the future which made it an addictive and enjoyable read. 

Published 5th January 2012 by Simon and Schuster.