e-ARC, 272 pages
Release Date: February 6, 2024
Published by: Balzer + Bray
Read from: January 19 – February 5, 2024
Stand-alone (?)
Source: Netgalley (I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and the Publisher in exchange for a just and honest review. This did nothing to influence my review.)
TW: Drug Use, Physical abuse, Violence, Child Abuse, Death of a parent
For Readers Interested In: Science Fiction, Racial/Ethnic Diversity (African American), YAA high-stakes, propulsive YA thriller with a body-swap twist thoughtfully exploring themes of friendship and identity, perfect for fans of Tiffany D. Jackson.
Seventeen-year-old Megan Allen has been jumping from friend group to friend group in her high school, trying on identities like outfits. Nothing ever seems to fit—until she meets LC, the adventurous, charismatic girl who appears at her favorite coffee shop one day like magic. Finally, Megan feels like she’s becoming the person she’s meant to be: someone like LC.
On the night of their friendiversary, what was supposed to be a bonding experience ends in a waking nightmare. Suddenly, Megan is no longer herself. Too late, she realizes that LC has secrets—dangerous ones. Betrayed by her best friend, thrust into another girl’s life, and targeted by LC’s enemies, she must claim what makes Megan Megan to get her life back . . . or die trying.
*MY THOUGHTS*
It’s no secret that I’m not a huge fan of science fiction. I always have trouble with the science part lmao But this one was Black and I was promised that the science in it was light, so really, that was all I needed to hear. And even with some small things I would have changed, I really did enjoy this.
Ok so let’s start with the things I didn’t care for. I was NOT a fan of the way this is described as a thriller and they put Tiffany D. Jackson’s name on it. I didn’t feel like this was a thriller at all. And when I read it I got mad because it didn’t speed up my heart rate and I wasn’t like saying, “Omg!” every three seconds or anything. Had it been classified as just a sci fi book I would have been like BETTTTTTT! But adding that thriller on to the end because there’s a lady that doesn’t want secrets to get out seems a bit misleading. To be honest with you, it was just like she was the villain in a sci fi novel. There was no thriller elements in my honest opinion. Can we please get publishers and other content creators to STOP putting the wrong info out there? because if I was to rate this really low, they’d say I was mean.
And I need someone to write this down for me………… Ready? Ok. So I don’t think there was enough explanation into the dscience for me? Was she a robot? Like an AI? The original was a real person who got a chip put inside? It felt too murky and I guess I wanted more of an explanation. It just seemed like all of this was happening, but I didn’t know why? The world building just wasn’t great. Hopefully there’s a second book and that part is addressed. But I just wonder why they wouldn’t add this into this book. Like it wasn’t even 300 pages. I think there was room in there to add it. And it wouldn’t have even been like an info dump because they were all trying to figure out what happened. But idk.
BUT none of that was enough for me to not enjoy it or DNF it. The beginning had me HOOKED. I could not stop thinking about this book once I started it. I had to know how she did what she did and why. This was so weird to me because where in the world did that same crazy go? I wanted to see that carried into the rest of the story. But still, if this is a series, I’m excited to see where the sequel takes them.
The characters were a little hard to follow too. It got a bit confusing on who was who during their time on the run together. They all had different stories, but the ending was always the same. But even that was ok with me. I think their time before they met was always different enough for me to keep them seperate. But I can’t say I actually liked them all. Because some of them did some crazy weird stuff. And I know they were in danger, but there’s just some things I could never do. Like smashing my hand in a door. Not no, but hell naw lol
This book was different from what I normally read, but that didn’t make me not like it. In fact, I thought it was refreshing that I had something different than the norm. Add on to the fact that this was Black Sci Fi, I was happy to read and recommend it. Because regardless, I’m always happy to have something to know I can offer a teen who’s looking for something like this.
Overall, I give this
