Save Me (2000) 17-year-old Cara lives in the small seaside town of Liberty, Oregon and due to a is a little leery of dating, due to her last boyfriend. Cara enjoys hanging out with her BFF Rachel and spending time with her beloved gray whales that she gets to see often by volunteering with Liberty Charters on the weekends.On a recent whale watching trip, Cara is shocked when her two favorite gray whales come close enough to their 26-foot boot to be touched. David, a 20-something passenger, starts petting the whale’s head and invites Cara to as well. As soon as Cara touches the whale a warm tingling sensation passes between herself and David. Then an Orca whale bumps the boat knocking Cara into the water and David jumps in to save her--cementing a new-found bound between them.Even though she’s just met him, Cara is already starting to fall in love and listens to the voice in her head that tells her she can trust David. Later that same day, Cara meets another handsome young man, Garren, who just moved to town. She immediately likes and trusts him as well, even though she views him as a friend.Soon Cara’s life becomes complicated when she finds out David is her student teacher for journalism and Garren’s always around. Meanwhile, her BFF Rachel has a new, shady boyfriend and stops even speaking to Cara as she becomes almost comatose.If Cara’s going to figure out what’s going on with Rachel and a way for her to be with her soul mate David, she’s going to need a lot of help.Teen girls looking for some romance reminiscent of Twilight or Halo, will likely enjoy this book featuring Cara’s romantic woes interwoven with some mystery, but I’ll pass. My adult brain refused to swoon to this plot line.for grades 7 and up Actual 3.5There are certain books that you just have to be in the mood to read. SAVE ME by Jenny Elliot was one of those books for me. I attempted to pick them it up a few weeks back and could just not get into it. But I picked it up again a few days ago, determined to give it one more try and I am glad that I did! SAVE ME had by far one of the best first chapters I have ever read. There must have been something wrong with me the first time I picked this up, because I don't know how I could have read through that chapter and not have been hooked. On top of an amazing first chapter, other great things about this book was the mixture of all the different elements of the story. Sometimes mixing different genres together can turn into a chaotic mess, but I thought SAVE ME was executed very well. I specifically liked how certain aspects of the story line kept you guessing until the very end. My only real issue with this book was the insta-love. Our main character Cara falls in love within the first few pages. Yes, it is not the perfect relationship and there are obstacles in the way, but that relationship took off a little too quickly for my taste. But as this being a SWOON READS book, I guess that was to be expected. All in all this was a great debut for Jenny Elliot and I will definitely be picking up more of her work in the future!