Trick of the Mind by Judy Waite

() This novel started off fairly decent. It's told in a two-part perspective through a teen girl who is new to town and a teen boy - who the girl has a crush on. The girl, Erin, specializes in magic tricks, and the guy, Matt, specializes in taking his best friend's burdens. Erin tries to entice Matt through her magic skills, but Matt's too busy watching his best friend's girl to even notice. Matt uses Erin's friendship as a distraction to his own disheveled life. Soon, Matt runs away from home at the worst time imaginable. This, coupled with other coincidences and secrets make this story seem a deep, dark, twisted tragedy until the very last page. It's a very slow story with depressing situations that only get worse and worse through the sadness of (a little too much) random chance. The first few chapters were interesting, but after that I just got really fed up with the story and couldn't wait to get through it.