Cidney Swanson

It's not often that I feel compelled to continue on and finish a series. Often, I will love or like the first book but then the second book will bore me to tears and that will be that. But I am so excited about the Ripple series! Chameleon was just as good as, if not better than, the first book. I made the mistake of starting it late at night and had to stay up to finish it because it was so intense! Things would just be calming down and suddenly something else would pop up.

The storyline show more becomes even more fascinating in this one. There are excerpts scattered throughout this book and they're actually so creepy to read! I usually do not like this style of writing but it worked so well here because the excerpts were so horrifying I could not look away! Swanson has created so many terrifying characters but at the same time they are so incredibly believable. This book certainly gives you a lot to think about and shows you how humans can rationalize horrors to themselves and the long term effects of traumatizing a young child.

Sam, Mickie and Will spend most of this book in Paris and they definitely manage to get themselves into a lot of trouble! I love the interactions between these three characters. None of them take anything too seriously and they're just really fun to read about. Sam and Will developed well throughout this one and we definitely get to see much more of Will's personality shining through! Mickie is as hilarious as ever, even if she's grumpy as hell. If I start talking about Sir Walter, I will never stop. He was so awesome and maybe even my favourite character so far.

As you can see, I'm certainly now a huge fan of Cidney Swanson. Chameleon did not fail to impress and I'll be so excited to get my hands on the third book to see what's in store for these amazing characters!

This review first appeared here on my blog. show less

*Contains slight spoilers for previous books in the series*

Why did I read this? I spent .99 cents on the whole series and I wanted to see if it would redeem itself after the first two books. It didn't. It was worse.

Not only was the dialogue still filled with long drawn out explanations, I had to sit through Will and Sam talking, thinking and crying about each other. They whined about missing each other at least twice every chapter. At least in the other books Sam thought for herself a little show more bit more. But in my opinion Will talked and thought like a girl much too often throughout the entire book. Him and Sam talked in a much too similar manner I hadn't noticed in the previous books that were only in Sam's POV.

Both of the characters also used the term "rippled/rippling" much to often. I wouldn't have minded it as much if the way it was said varied a little bit from time to time, but it didn't. It was always "he rippled solid", "I rippled solid", "he rippled invisible." I think the word rippled must have been used at least 50 times which gets annoying really fast, I had hoped that the author would tone it down a little but if anything it was worse in this book than the others.

Even the story's plot was a bit jumbled, though it was much better constructed than the rest of the story. At times there were too many bad guys to keep track of and the fact that none of them had the same ultimate goal made it a bit hard to keep track of which one wanted what.

I can't even begin to express how happy I am that that was the last of these books. I'm never reading any of this authors books again. show less

4.5/5 stars

A blend of science fiction, historical novel, thriller and romance, Rippler was an incredibly intriguing story that I just couldn’t put down. Told from the perspective of Samantha Ruiz, Swanson crafts a compelling mystery surrounding a rare genetic disease, interspersing Sam’s story of discovery with passages of an old journal written by a Nazi scientist who conducted rather horrendous psychological experiments during WWII. I found this blending of the past and present show more fascinating and very well paced. For just as I am about to sigh blissfully from the sweetness that is Will & Sam, Swanson reminds us again and again in increasingly disturbing ways that all is not well — that the situation is serious and dangerous. It’s shocking and unsettling, and it is good storytelling.


Sam was a protagonist that I really identified with right from the beginning. Despite her confusing and sometimes inconvenient new-found ability to ripple – or turn herself invisible – she is very much a normal girl who’s just discovered she’s a little more abnormal than she thought. Just beginning to heal from her mother’s death in a tragic car accident years earlier, Sam doesn’t have a whole lot of people she can call friends. As a result of the trauma of seeing her mother die, Sam spent many years withdrawn inside herself, depressed and lonely. However all that begins to change with the reappearance of an old childhood friend and the arrival of her cute new neighbor, Will. As Sam begins to open up to her new friends, she begins to learn more about herself than she could have ever imagined possible.


While I have never experienced personal tragedy to the extent that Sam has, I can definitely relate to her. She’s someone who has experienced real sorrow, and it has matured her. Although she’s been socially withdrawn since her mother’s death, Sam is not a wall flower, painfully shy or socially inept. Instead, she just needs friends who don’t view her through the tainted lenses of her past, and she finds them in Gwyn and Will. Though she has a lot of the same insecurities most girls share, they’re not debilitating – she’s a confident and intelligent young lady. She’s just a normal girl. I mean, despite the fact that her genes allow her to ripple. Sam is someone I could see myself befriending and I really enjoyed getting to know her character throughout the book.


There were so many things I loved about Rippler, but perhaps the item that tops my list is the friendship between Sam & Will. Swanson did a wonderful job establishing them as good friends before the idea of romantic entanglement surfaced. They have a genuine connection, a comfortableness with each other. I’m of the opinion that relationships tend to be deeper when there’s a well-established friendship at the foundation of the romance. And perhaps I’m just an incurable romantic but there’s something incredibly swoon-worthy about suddenly realizing you’re falling in love with your best friend. Sam & Will are just so sweet and adorable, as is their budding romance, and I can’t wait to see where their story takes them.


One of my biggest hang-ups with plots that delve into the scientific realm is credibility. Sometimes the science is just laughable, sometimes it’s just too vague, sometimes it just doesn’t quite feel plausible. I have no idea how many of the things discussed in Rippler are grounded in actual fact, just theoretical or just plain made up, but Swanson writes with an authority that makes me think it could be. And that’s really what matters. It doesn’t matter how true the science is, it’s a matter of “does the author make me believe it could be?” And she does.


Overall, Swanson has written a thrilling and romantic tale that had me alternately curling my toes in delight and gasping in horror, but that ultimately left me extremely satisfied… or unsatisfied, because I can’t wait to read the next book. show less

Reviewed by Valerie
ebook provided by Cidney Swanson

COVER LOVE! I loved book one’s cover too!!!
Review: These stories have grit. I absolutely love this trilogy so far! In book one, Sam found out that she has the ability to ripple, or turn invisible. She also discovered that her mom and best friend’s death were not accidental and she was the intended target. Now, it seems that Sam, as well as Will, are both wanted by geneticists that have sinister plans. Do they want them dead or alive and show more why? When a note and video arrives by mail, Sam, Will, and Will’s sister watch it and discover plans to wipe out an entire generation for the sake of a superior race are being put into motion. Woven into the story, similar to book one, are journal entries from World War II experiments, letters between conspirators, and scribbled notes which were chilling to read. I was filled with dread when Sam and Will decided to break into the lab, again, to try and find black journals that might have answers to their questions...

Deciding to use a school trip as cover, they then travel to France to meet the mysterious sender of the notes, Sir Walter. He translates the journals and they read the terrible truth about genetic purging and experiments to control anyone who can ripple or is considered a “chameleon.” When the true nature of rippling is explained to them, the small group realizes that people who can ripple are not aging when they are invisible and that the evil mastermind has been around much longer than they thought. After being abducted on the trip, Sam befriends an unlikely ally and discovers that she is indeed the one being sought after. The only thing to find is why?

Kudos to Ms. Swanson for bringing the trip to France alive for her readers. The authenticity and attention to detail is wonderfully written as the mystery deepens for the characters. Sir Walter is a gentleman and I loved his character. Another bonus in this book is that Will and Sam FINALLY figure out that they do indeed have chemistry between them – only to part at the end. Where’s book three? When will they EVER be safe? A MUST read!!!

Advice: Very enjoyable reading from cover to cover! The action and suspense just kept building!

Quote: “I hungered to hold those books within my hands.” Page 19 show less