"Ms. Foyt creates an appealingly sullen adolescent in Lexie to whom cyberspace is the key to a realer Reality than the "Bubble" in which everyone else is trapped, and she keeps readers guessing about Lexie's suspicions until the very end."
--Kirkus Reviews
"A must-read! 5 stars.
"The Virtual Life of Lexie Diamond is a suspenseful "whodunit" from actress and screenwriter Victoria Foyt, a first novel that effectively covers a wide gamut of emotional ground.
"Fourteen-year-old Lexie copes with alienation at school and her divorced parents' disappointment with her computer-driven life. When her mother is killed in a mysterious car crash, Lexie finds credible evidence of foul play and is forced to adapt, change, and grow as person in order to follow the clues.
"Lexie's suspicions grow as her father's fiancé shows her dark side after a series of private confrontations, actions which drive Lexie to make contact with her mother in cyberspace. To further complicate her life, Lexie must learn to trust people in "real time;" both her hunky neighbor and a popular "diva" at school, both of whom wish to be her friend.
"Foyt adroitly welds the ether world of cyberspace with many common teen issues in both of Lexie's worlds. Her teen protagonist must use her strengths and weaknesses to solve the mystery of her mother's death and to save her father. As a result, the author has created a compelling character and an electrifying story that will hold younger readers until the last page.
-- TeensReadToo.com
This absorbing novel offers insight into the online world that both amplifies and eases teenage alienation. A true whodunit based in reality and the world of online living, Foyt's fast-paced novel should please teens 12 and up, who can even interact with the fictional Lexie on www.lexiediamond.com. Bonus: Maybe the book will even get kids off the computer to read!
--Copley News Service
"RECOMMENDED!
Foyt establishes the web world as a fully developed second setting,
with rich, warm descriptions of the incorporeal life the protagonist
adores contrasting nicely with the distanced, almost anthropological
tone taken as Lexie warily tries to make sense of the humans around
her. Although ghostly Internet mom and freaky shapeshifting Jane
(Dad’s girlfriend) nudge this novel into fantasy, most of Lexie’s
separation from the real world is a protective, preemptive strategy
to avoid the hazards of being different in the usually cruel world
that is high school. Realistic fiction fans will therefore easily
relate to Lexie as a memorable protagonist who is slowly awakening
to the idea that there may just be life worth exploring outside of
her Internet world.
--The Center for Children’s Books
"Lexie’s internal dialogue and unique spiritual perspective make her
a fascinating central character."
--School Library Journal
"This exciting and mysterious novel will have even non computer people on the edge of their seats!"
--KidsBookshelf.com
"Adventure, love, humor, good and evil, along with cyber-sleuths and unlikely heroes, make The Virtual Life of Lexie Diamond everything a young person (and the rest of us as well) could hope for in a novel. Beautifully written and suspenseful from the opening page. I couldn't put this book down until I was on the last."
-- Catherine Ingram, author of In the Footsteps of Gandhi
"This is a terrific piece of work, an engaging and
original combination of coming-of-age drama, detective
story, and magic realism with strong elements of comedy.
Lexie Diamond, the fourteen-year-old narrator, copes with
the death of her mother, her father's developing romantic
relationship, and insecurity about her relationships with
peers. So complete is Lexie's immersion in the virtual
world of computers and the Internet that she sees the world
and other people in terms of computer and web metaphors.
"This book offers great inspiration and understanding to
girls at this awkward stage of life."
-- Judith Searle, author of
The Literary Enneagram
