The Orpheus Obsession
by Dakota Lane

    THE ORPHEUS OBSESSION by Dakota Lane
    Category:  Contemporary
    Age Recommendation:  Grades 9+
    Release Date:  5/13/08
    Publisher:  HarperTeen
    Reviewed by:  Jaglvr
    Rating:  5 Stars


    Anooshka Star has a miserable home life.  Her mom is always depressed and Anooshka never knows what to expect
    from one day to the next.  Her father has gone off to live in India.  Anooshka had the choice of going with him but felt
    the right thing to do was stay in the States with her mom.  Her only chance of reprieve is a short bus trip to visit her
    sister, Zoetrope Zallulah Moon (aka ZZ Moon) on occasion.

    It is during one such trip during the summer that the two sisters find themselves at a lush maze in Brighton Beach.  
    There, Anooshka stumbles across a photo shoot.  Peeking through the hedges, ZZ Moon suddenly panics.  She tries
    to pull away, but Anooshka will have nothing to do with that.  ZZ Moon nervously tells Anooshka that it’s none other
    than Orpheus, the musician that she listens to constantly.  Anooshka walks over to him and gets the nerve to ask for
    his autograph; for her sister, of course.  But once she’s met Orpheus herself, she’s smitten.

    Back at home, after dealing with her mom’s latest drama, she logs onto the Internet and starts reading all of Orpheus’s
    web blog.  Anooshka starts to notice a connection with Orpheus.  His thoughts online mirror many of her own.  In her
    reading, she learns the fact that Orpheus is part owner in a NYC restaurant, Constellation.  She calls her sister up and
    the two of them plan on an outing there the following Sunday.

    Much to their delight, they encounter Orpheus at Constellation, and he talks to them.  He even goes so far as to offer
    the two of them passes to his show later.  Of course they are thrilled.  From this point on, Anooshka’s obsession is
    solidified, and all she can concentrate on is Orpheus.

    Throughout the course of the summer, Anooshka goes to many lengths to be where Orpheus is.  When he showers
    even a little bit of attention on her, it pulls her even deeper into her obsession.

    Dakota Lane writes a dark novel of how a chance meeting can begin the stirrings of an obsession.  Anooshka made
    her first contact with Orpheus for her sister’s sake, but soon, the tide is turned and Anooshka can’t get enough.  Cold
    reality sets in, and the reader can see how Anooshka tries to get a grip back on her life, though it’s never easy.  Ms.
    Lane makes the reader realize that an obsession is a hard habit to break.