Dear lord it has been a really long time since I last read this one.
And yep, its still awesome.
Glad I randomly spotted it on the top of a pile at the local second hand book sale.
Now to see if I can find myself the rest of the series for nostalgia sake.

One of my best reads, ever. Made my heart ache.

Actually quite interesting and a lot better than I imagined.. Basically it just reminded me of those crazy high school days of no sleep and studying 24/7 and doing extracurricular activities.

And that plot twist though.. I really did not except Andy to die omfg. But the plot is kind of boring and predictable, like *spends the whole book competing with Maggie to see who would enter the Olympics* *Oh jokes guys, both of you can actually compete HAHAHAHAAHA Let's just ignore those months of stress and intense mental health problems*

Came across this in the little local free library (set up in an old telephone box as it is) and it immediately brought back memories of reading it as a kid. Or having it read to me... the first form teacher at my school read Alex aloud to my class, skipping over the bits where Alex kissed her boyfriend, because surely that was too much for impressionable twelve year olds, lol. (She was quite old so didn't notice when we stole the book off her at recess to read what she wouldn't... and it was extraordinarily tame, to our great disappointment.)

But anyway, this is one of the classics of YA literature in New Zealand. Alex, a fifteen year old swimmer who is training for a shot at the Olympics, gets progressively more overwhelmed by the rest of her life: school work, other extracurriculars, the awkward yet still friendly relationship she has with her rival Maggie, who has her own problems... of course there is success in the end, for both girls, and it remains an appealing, well-written story even decades later. Nice to have a book so focused on girls and athletics, too... more often these types of stories, especially at time of writing, seemed to be directed more to boys.

I guess 'In Lane Three, Alex Archer' is the American title, I've only heard it called 'Alex'. Anyway, it's one of my favourite books of all time. Hooray!