Saturday, March 24, 2012

Book Review- Someone Else's Life

I finished reading Someone Else's Life by Katie Dale for a Teen Book Scene Tour.

From Goodreads:

When 17-year-old Rosie's mother, Trudie, dies from Huntington's Disease, her pain is intensified by the knowledge that she has a fifty percent chance of inheriting the crippling disease herself. Only when Rosie tells her mother's best friend, "Aunt Sarah," that she is going to test for the disease does Sarah, a midwife, reveal that Trudie wasn't her real mother after all. Rosie was swapped at birth with a sickly baby who was destined to die.

Devastated, Rosie decides to trace her real mother, joining her ex-boyfriend on his gap year travels, to find her birth mother in California. But all does not go as planned. As Rosie discovers yet more of her family's deeply buried secrets and lies, she is left with an agonizing decision of her own, one which will be the most heart breaking and far-reaching of all.
 
I have always loved reading books about people coping with diseases (I think it goes back to my Lurlene McDaniel days) so I often jump at the chance to read them.  Lately, I've been disappointed.  But not with this book!
 
Someone Else's Life is FILLED with drama.  There is more drama and surprises around every corner.  But it didn't get tiring.  I actually liked all the drama (except for how Andy kept leaving Rosie and coming back..that got a little old).  But I liked all of the twists and turn--some of which I figured out and some of which I didn't. 
 
I really liked Rosie.  She's a great heroine.  Super sweet and easy to be sympathetic about.  Holly on the other hand, not so much.  I know she got the shock of her life but she didn't need to be so nasty about it (but I guess that's what makes for some good drama).  The boys were pretty great too.  Both Josh and Andy seemed like sweet guys and supportive (for the most part). 
 
Overall, just a great drama and one that sucked me right in!
 
I gave this a rating of 4/5.
 
This book fulfills items in the following challenges:
2012 Reading Challenge 150+: 24
2012 ARC Reading Challenge: 21
2012 Debut Author Challenge: 6
2012 Young Adult Reading Challenge: 21
Completely Contemp Challenge 2012: 2012-4
2012 Standalone Reading Challenge: 5
 
*FTC Disclosure: I was given this book for free for an honest review as part of the Teen Book Scene.
 

1 comment:

  1. Very nice review. I just finished this one up recently, too. But... I didn't find the surprises and twists as uplifting as you. I thought the story went a little overboard in this area.

    Though your are spot on with Holly's character ( I though she was totally rude for not reason) I also was upset by Rosie always hiding the truth. It seemed to cause more problems in the end.

    Overall, though, it was certainly a readable story. I will say I enjoyed it more than I disliked it.

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