Literary Merit: Ok
Characterization: Ok
Recommended: Optional Purchase
Level: Mature High School

When Jolene, a homeless teen and victim of abuse and violence, decides to take on the identity of a missing girl connected to a local wealthy family, she thinks she will finally find family and safety, but maybe she is the one being conned this time. As Jo gets to know her new family and uses her street smarts to uncover some of their long-buried secrets, she realizes that her new home maybe more dangerous than she could have imagined.

I loved the premise of this book and having enjoyed Savage's last book, Beautiful Broken Girls, I jumped at the chance to review this one, but sadly I didn't enjoy it as much as I hoped. While this novel definitely shares the dark themes of her previous book and many other popular YA thrillers out now, I felt this one pulled in several dark elements without any real purpose or connection to the story, other than to make this somewhat shallow and very predictable thriller have more "substance." I feel like several elements that were referred to repeatedly had little or no follow through in the wrap up, making it seem unnecessary in the story (such as multiple references to "the last one"). Also, the plot seemed very jumpy, some parts lagging with too much detail and explanation, while some parts jumped so much that I felt I'd missed a few pages. Overall, I think the idea was interesting, but the novel just didn't meet the hype. ( )

I enjoyed the narrative style of this book, it did take a bit of time to get in the flow of reading it but change is good. Kim Savage has a great writing style a nice flow of words and the story line was tops until page 281 and it just lost me. The book is only 289 pages and that ending hummm...... that's were the two star comes from. Other than that I was having a great time with this book. ( )

This review can also be found on my blog.
cw: domestic abuse, self-harm

The only people who talk about dead like it’s something pretty and fanciful are people who haven’t seen it up close.

I’ll admit that although I found the premise somewhat interesting, most of the reason I picked up this one was because it took place in Boston. That aspect was really fun, since I recognized most of the places mentioned and could really imagine myself there. The writing itself was interesting, too. It was a mixture of first and second person and worked really well for the story. Kim Savage ended up keeping me on my toes and I absolutely inhaled the last half or so in one sitting. My only complaint was that it felt kind of queerbait-y and I ended up pretty frustrated by that. ( )

So this book was written really oddly. I forced myself to read through half then I couldn't do it anymore.
It's about a girl that lived poorly that lost her mother. Showed up at a police station and portrayed herself as a girl that had gone missing 7 years previous. She found out that both of her parents had passed in a plane crash but her parents had made arrangements for her "best friends" family to take custody of her if she ever came back. Now she is living a richer life. Cant tell you anymore bc thats as far as i got. ( )

Wow. That will be the first word that comes out of my mouth (and therefore, my fingers) in response to how this book made me feel.

In the same way that this book left me feeling like the wind had been knocked out of me a few times, it also left me feeling so desperately sad. I'll get back to that..



Jo Chastain, a young homeless teen, who basically wants a family of her own, assumes the identity of a missing girl (who would now be a teenager), in order to live in a wealthy household. Ignoring how hard I think it would be to actually assume the identity of a missing person and start living a new life, it takes a lot of tenacity and desire to want to rid yourself of your past and get yourself into a new situation, and risk being found out.

The home that Jo comes to live in is one where she now not only has the 'parents' she never had, along with the wealth, she also has the daughter of the Lovecrafts, Temple, who becomes like a sister and best friend to her.



As Jo (now Vivi) becomes lost inside this new identity of hers, and becomes attached to Temple, she has to remind herself of her truth because she starts to realize things are not quite as 'peachy' in the Lovecraft household as she once thought, and there's definitely an ominous tone. It takes a long while for the suspense to build and it's a slow burn that creeps up on you; the book is broken up into three different parts (of which, the first is the bulk of the book), and at the end of the first part the biggest twist comes.

Suspense in a book like this spells danger for a character like Jo, and the book is turned on its heels and at the same time it made me gasp (it's blatantly obvious I can't give you spoilers), this was very cleverly written.



What I felt is so sad about all this, is that we have one young girl wanting a family so badly she is willing to go to these lengths, and within the inner workings of this novel, there's another very sad tale going on for Temple too. This intimate friendship of these two girls starts to look very dysfunctional and you can't help but feel something's not going to end well unless...well, something.



Ultimately though, Kim Savage has written a very engrossing novel about a case of stolen identity, yet it's so much more than that; I read this book from beginning to end with hardly putting it down, and I now know I need more of her writing! ( )