The BEST WEEK THAT NEVER HAPPENED by Dallas Woodburn – Teen and YA Coming of Age Fantasy, Teen and Y/A Magical Realism Fiction, Y/A Contemporary Fantasy Fiction

Dallas Woodburn’s debut novel The Best Week that Never Happened is a roller-coaster ride through Hawaii and the mysterious depths of its briny deep, sparkling with unreal magic, a poignant romance, and incessant hope.

Tegan Rossi, a freshly graduated eighteen-year-old, awakens in the secretive hideout she discovered with Kai Kapule as two eight-year-old children on her first trip to Hawaii Island. She needs to make amends with Kai as they had a major squabble over something very important that she now oddly forgets. When Tegan catches up with Kai in Hawaii, she enters her best week yet – the Best Week That Never Happened.

The first-person narrative is a fusion of Tegan’s past three years ago and ten years ago, as well as a mystified chronicling of her present with Kai on the Big Island of Hawaii.

Tegan and Kai run into each other for the second time in Hawaii ten years later. At Kai’s earnest request, they both meet at their childhood hideout The Lava Tubes. Reliving the nostalgia, they re-emerge as inseparable friends, sharing their lives over the phone 4,880 miles apart. Tegan’s reluctance to meet up with Kai’s graduation wish (a visit from Tegan) turns up in the two-months past narrative. With the present time leapfrog, Tegan arrives in Hawaii, fretting over her inability to remember how she turned up there.

In the medical center of Kai’s aunt, Tegan discovers an hourglass tattoo on her body she never had.

A series of incredible happenings follow. Tegan’s suitcase shows up out of nowhere with all she could ever wish for, her mom doesn’t seem to exist, at least she’s not answering her calls. Oh, yes, and the hourglass tattoo is losing sand. Most curious, Tegan discovers her Instagram photo in front of a train with a caption about her departure from Philadelphia to Washington DC. But the train crashed, killing 67 passengers.

In her quest for an explanation, Tegan receives a message, “to trust enough to take the leap.” It is Tegan’s conforming to the message which will eventuate her best week, the week of confessing love, dealing with insecurities, and reliving the déjà-vu moments from the past with Kai into a reality.

The Best Week That Never Happened ushers readers through alternating states of reflection and pessimism, until finally riding the waves of optimism and hope.

Dallas Woodburn explores the complexity of a teenage psyche. Through Kai and Tegan, she reflects on our innate insecurities and the tendency to not embrace new ideas and opportunities out of fear. With the development of the two characters, the narrative tone gradually shifts from a tragic to an optimistic perspective, referencing their development as adults. This subtle shift brings about a symbiotic relationship between pessimism and optimism in which we all live.

The aversion to change and embracing a better future is a predominant theme throughout the book.

This underlying struggle is reflected in Tegan and Ross. Tegan struggles with the decision to confess her feelings for Kai, adamant to keep the relationship unchanged. By not confessing to her feelings, she risks making the best week of her life with Kai only an illusion of reality.  Kai dreams of becoming an artist and gets shortlisted to the prestigious CalArts College in Los Angeles. He adores his usual marine life with his family in Hawaii, his paradise, away from the suffocating fear of being stuck “at the bottom of the barrel” outside of Hawaii. Overcoming their fears and insecurities is what makes the debut novel, The Best Week That Never Happened, so very relatable.

With a twist of magical realism and captivating storytelling, The Best Week That Never Happened revolves around the contemporary concerns of teenagers and adults alike. It’s an exciting read with a powerful message borrowed from Martin Luther King, Jr., “Take the first step in faith. You don’t need to see everything on the staircase, just the first step.”

The Best Week That Never Happened by Dallas Woodburn won the CIBA 2020 Grand Prize in the Dante Rossetti Book Awards for Young Adult novels and is one book we highly recommend.