As Meg Cabot’s newest release “Runaway,” opens, we see that Em Watts is hiding, from the paparazzi, from her family, from her friends, and even from her own life. Forced into an unhappy partnership with her non-boyfriend (who just happens to be the power hungry son of her evil employer), Em is at her breaking point. Now she’s just waiting her time out, but the waiting is taking to look. She is, in fact, waiting for the live Stark Angel fashion show and for the real Nikki to stand up and reveal what she found out about Stark Enterprises, as well as what led to this whole predicament. Her dilemma is that she is stuck between the desire to protect those she cares about and the determination to expose Stark’s wrongdoings. Em will have to decide if she can take a stand, or if she’s better off running away from it all.

“Runaway,” third in the Airhead series, was preceded by “Airhead” and “Being Nikki” and closes this trilogy off nicely. The storyline was fascinating and Cabot still managed to surprise her readers with tidbits. I don’t like to reveal anything substantial about the book, its progression, or its ending, but this one does end happily ever after. Em’s character goes through quite a bit and with this last book of the trilogy, readers will applaud her ability to hang in there. Also, a big driver of this book was the background discussion about business ethics, identity theft, and even reclaiming a new identity. It’s the gift that Christopher gives to Em at the end that is so thoughtful and touching, and it reminds readers that we are who we are, not matter what crosses our path in life.