In Another Life – Review – Ashes Books & Bobs

Many thanks to Wednesday Books and Netgalley for the chance to read this novel!

BLURB:

Chloe was three years old when she became Chloe Holden, but her adoption didn’t scar her, and she’s had a great life. Now, fourteen years later, her loving parents’ marriage has fallen apart and her mom has moved them to Joyful, Texas. Starting twelfth grade as the new kid at school, everything Chloe loved about her life is gone. And feelings of déjà vu from her early childhood start haunting her.

When Chloe meets Cash Colton she feels drawn to him, as though they’re kindred spirits. Until Cash tells her the real reason he sought her out: Chloe looks exactly like the daughter his foster parents lost years ago, and he’s determined to figure out the truth.

As Chloe and Cash delve deeper into her adoption, the more things don’t add up, and the more strange things start happening. Why is Chloe’s adoption a secret that people would kill for?

This was one of the most entertaining YA books I’ve read in a long time. It made me long for my younger self! It would have been precisely the type of book I would have loved in my early high school days with bits of mystery, suspense, and romance all added in to make an interesting story.

Overall, this was a well-paced novel that kept my interest from beginning to end. I haven’t read many mysterious adoption stories and this was a nice change of genre and topic. I liked the contemporary coming-of-age feeling at the beginning of the story and slow morph to more of a thriller by the end. The suspenseful feel was there throughout, yet there was a sense of being bottle fed each detail. I hoped for less predictability and more surprise from such a novel. Unfortunately, the ending felt a bit rushed in my opinion as well. I hoped to see more of the events we came to expect in the story being fleshed out in further detail.

I also found Chloe to be a bit harsh or pushy in dealing with her mother’s depression resulting from her failed marriage. I would have liked to see more empathy from her. It was a great opportunity for character growth that wasn’t used to its full potential. Her mom’s life had drastically changed, in a horrible way I can’t possibly imagine trying to survive through, and her daughter just seemed to add to the drama she was facing. As you can see from my perspective, I was too old to read this book since I was able to better identify with the mother than the daughter’s point of view.

I think this would be a great read for it’s intended audience, but less so for adult lovers of YA. I wish I could have read this one as a teen myself! Pick up your own copy on March 26th or pre-order today.

Rating: 3 stars.

Purchase on Amazon.