e-Audio, 09:47:57
Narrated by: Brittany Pressley
Release Date: March 1, 2022
Published by: Macmillan Audio
Read from: March 21-23, 2022
Stand-alone
Source: Library’s Libby
TW:
For Readers Interested In: Contemporary, Romance, Realistic Fiction, YAMarit Weisenberg’s This Golden State follows a family on the run, a restless teenage daughter hungry for the truth, and the simple DNA test that threatens their carefully crafted world
The Winslow family lives by five principles:
1. No one can know your real name.
2. Don’t stay in one place too long.
3. If you sense anything is wrong, go immediately to the meeting spot.
4. Keeping our family together is everything.
5. We wish we could tell you who we are, but we can’t. Please—do not ask.
Poppy doesn’t know why her family has been running her whole life, but she does know that there are dire consequences if they’re ever caught. Still, her curiosity grows each year, as does her desire for real friends and the chance to build on something, instead of leaving behind school projects, teams, and crushes at a moment’s notice.
When a move to California exposes a crack in her parents’ airtight planning, Poppy realizes how fragile her world is. Determined to find out the truth, she mails in a home DNA test. Just as she starts to settle into her new life and even begins opening up to a boy in her math class, the forgotten test results bring her crashing back to reality.
Unraveling the shocking truth of her parents’ real identities, Poppy realizes that the DNA test has undone decades of careful work to keep her family anonymous—and the past is dangerously close to catching up to them. Determined to protect her family but desperate for more, Poppy must ask: How much of herself does she owe her family? And is it a betrayal to find her own place in the world?
*MY THOUGHTS*
I happened upon this book by chance. I hadn’t ever heard of it before. I was so surprised by it that I thought that MacMillan had published this before and this was a reprint. Because why would a book like this, with this type of premise not be more hyped up? Because let me tell you, this book was so good! It deserves better.
A family on the run with a teen who is starting to ask questions… Poppy’s family has been running for as long as she’s been alive. Why? She doesn’t know. All she knows is that there would be dire consequences if her parents are found. When they move to California and her mom starts acting different, Poppy starts asking the harder questions… And then goes out on her own to find the answers. By stealing a take home DNA test. Suddenly, all the secrets her parents have kept so tight lipped are spilling out everywhere.
Y’all! Why is no one talking about this book? Like I don’t understand it? How did I not hear about it until after its release? It deserved so much better than what it got. So like what was the reason they were hiding it? Because almost everything about this was perfection. From the writing style to the secrets they kept, to the way they were so tight lipped about everything. It was sooooo good!
The characters were my favorite part. I LOVED getting into Poppy’s head. Seeing the things she was going through and how she couldn’t separate herself from the things her parents did? Man, I felt that emotion coming off the page. Maybe it’s just me being dramatic, but I felt so bad for her. None of that was her fault, but she was holding herself responsible for her family because that was what they taught her. And I hated that for her.
Plot wise it was a little repetitive, with her going to class and baby sitting, the library, etc. but Weisenberg kept it interesting by adding in other things like *ahem* her love interest. I hardly realized they kept doing the same things over and over. But I think that also just drove home the plot a bit more. She wasn’t able to do anything, so doing the same things over and over was basically a way to show that she was just obeying her parents. Whatever the case may be, even though it was repetitive, all the little happenings had me on the edge of my seat the whole time.
The end was what made me not give this 5 stars tho. I HATED it. I felt like it ended right in the middle of a scene! Like what happens to them? Are they caught? Has she been ok since she made her decision at the end? Has she said anything about what she left behind? Has the love interest kept their word? Like what happened? There isn’t even an epilogue! Ugh I was super frustrated, but I get why it had to be like this.
This book is an underrated gem and I really hope more people will go and read it! There’s a lot to love about this book, even if some things didn’t add up to what I wanted. Even though it basically tells the story in the synopsis, let me tell you how you don’t really know what’s going to happen…. I promise!
Overall, I give this
