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Intersect is a game that calls to our emotions, to our souls, where young women compete in the computer matrices, throwing impossible numbers and calculations, weaving impossible creations of love and heart breaking beauty all the while trying to undo what the other has made. Men can't compete (they'd destroy the system), women are not nearly as talented as their daughters, and so all those who can't compete sit in their Virtual Reality chairs and bask in the power of the performance, of the game.

In this latest crop of players, Shannon O'hea is absolutely the best. Her only friend is Alicia, an audacious up and comer in the game. It's unusual for two Intersect girls to befriend each other truly, mostly the girls are pleasantly polite to each other, knowing always that they may someday meet in the game and rip apart the other... at least virtually. But Shannon isn't usual, and as the book passes she grows more and more disquieted. She feels there's something wrong with the game, with everything, and she's not alone. Georgie starts out the book as one of Shannon's staunchest fans. He adores her to distraction... and his grades show it. The game begins to change for him, as well, as he seeks to try and figure out what's different he becomes even more obsessed with Shannon.

The book sounds a bit like a love story, well, it says it's one, and the cover, with two handsome young people smiling at each other, makes it sound like it's going to be a YA romance. Far from it. There's dense and dark things going on in Intersect: A Love Story, and if it's about love, it's more about how obsessive love can tear apart what it adores. Though I have to admit that Alicia and Shannon's friendship, which withstands media scrutiny and other hardships is a wonderful testament to the love of a friend.

Obsessive love can tear apart what it adores. It's worth saying again, because it is a theme central to the book, underscored by the very nature of the game. Each girl creates perfect love, perfect beauty, and to be defeated, her opponent must find the flaw and rip it apart, tearing apart this intimate outpouring of soul and essence. The girls are watched constantly, their every move picked over. They all dress with great care, act with great thought, knowing that the harsh light of media scrutiny will show any of their flaws to the viewer. Each of these flaws, if pointed out, will be discussed at water coolers and school desks the next day. There is a proprietary feeling towards these young ladies. Georgie calls Shannon his Shannon, and the sheer amounts of money and fame that are thrown at these girls seem to make the people who provide the wealth feel that they own the girl, not the right to watch the talent that she pours into the game. The Intersect players all live very closeted and restricted lives, making us wonder if it really is worth it. It brings up the idea of fame in our own time. How we all follow actors, athletes, musicians, and how to feed the desire to know more and more about these people the media go farther and farther into their personal space. Sometimes it seems as if some of us feel we have the right to know in return for all that they are given. You know that most celebrities must be thinking -- as I certainly would -- "isn't the movie/game/music I give you enough?" Of course, in the case of Intersect, the game itself is taking a far higher toll than it is worth.

Intelligent and thoughtful, this look at the expectations of fame challenges us, showing us that as technology grows, the nature of fame, the nature of entertainment, could have even more dreadful implications than we'd considered.

Cindy Lynn Speer loves books so much that she's designed most of her life around them, both as a librarian and a writer. Her books aren't due out anywhere soon, but she's trying. You can find her site at www.apenandfire.com.