The Ruby Notebook by Laura Resau

Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Release date:September 14, 2010
Pages: 384
Source: Bought
Age Group: Young Adult

In this sequel to the Indigo Notebook, where Zeeta and her flighty English teacher-mom Layla spend a year in Ecuador, where she met Wendell. A boy from Colorado who was looking for his birth parents in Ecuador. This year, Zeeta and her mom have landed in Aix-en-Provence, France, where Zeeta meets a mix of colorful new friends:Amandine and Jean Claude are two members of the street performing group Illusion, Vincent is the elderly owner of an antique store who has a special and wondrous pidgeon who is his one true love, Maude. Madame Chevalier is an elderly lady who seems to spy on everyone and everything on the town square where Zeeta and Layla are having their cappuccino's every day, a depressed looking mime called Tortue, and Ahmed, the owner of internet cafe Nirvana, where Zeeta a few times a day emails or calls Wendell, who is coming to Aix-en-Provence too. .

And then out of nothing Zeeta starts to receive mysterious things in her bag. Someone, a fantôme,is leaving her things with notes: a CD, a worn-out Jimi Hendrix shirt, a little jar of sand.. He is not revealing himself in the notes that come with his gifts to Zeeta, but only tells her to be patient till he finds the courage to say who he is. But when Wendell arrives, Zeeta brushes off her curiosity about her fantôme.Things seems to have cooled down between them, and he even isn't staying at the house of Zeeta and Layla, but at a host family. And what exactly is Zeeta feeling for the cute street performer Jean-Claude, who just as Zeeta, pens everything down in a notebook?

When Zeeta and Wendell join forces to find a secret underground spring whose water is rumored to bring immortality, they are forced to reconsider their own desires, and their beliefs about true love. Yet as soon as Zeeta decides that her mind has cleared, she's confronted with the biggest shock of her life: the incredible true identity of her fantôme.

I LOVED, loved , loved the Ruby Notebook!! This is just a gem of a book, just like a precious ruby! Laura Resau has an extraordinary talent of writing the story so illustrative and vivid, you just see the town of Aix-en-Provence coming alive right from the book. This book was on top of my to-read list and it was just worth it. The end was a bit open, but I am sure this is because there will be a third book, The Jade Notebook , which will be out in 2011.
This is a one of a kind young adult novel that is of outstanding quality and from an outstanding good author. Be sure to check out this book and Laura's other books as well, you won't be dissapointed!