Emily and Philip met at a performance of the Broadway show Aurora, and they’ve been best friends, and completely obsessed with the show, ever since. With loans from Emily’s grandmother, they’ve gone secretly to New York every Saturday since, to see the show, with its glorious story and music and Marlena Ortiz, the star of the show. Real life, when compared with the world of the theatre they inhabit every Saturday, is dull and consists almost entirely of obsessing over Broadway shows, reminiscing about past performances of Aurora, and looking forward to their Saturday in the city.

Emily and Philip are, therefore, devastated when they hear a new rumor: that Aurora is about to close. They’ve got to find out the truth! Another Broadway mystery that they, along with every other Aurora fan, would like to clear up? The identity of Aurora’s writer(s)! Nobody knows who wrote the show, or why.

In My Life: The Musical, Emily and Philip deal with problems in their families, figuring out their friendship and their own identities, and, of course, the possibility that their favorite show may close. It’s a hilarious, heartfelt novel about friendship, theatre, and, well, life, that is as wonderful as is to be expected from the fabulous Maryrose Wood. I laughed out loud when reading this smart, funny book that everyone will be able to relate to, whether or not you’re a Broadway fan, because we have all cared that much, irrationally, about something, be it a musical or a band or a book or a television show, and, as silly as we feel sometimes, it’s a pretty awesome feeling, too! I’m not sure this book will quite inspire JK-Rowling-type fandom, and, as many authors whose books are hailed as the “next Harry Potter,” no one can ever match that phenomenon–but it is a really fantastic and highly enjoyable book that I can’t recommend enough, especially to theatre fans!