Tour: Someone Else's Life Review

Author: Katie Dale
Release Date: February 14, 2012
Publisher: Delacorte Books
Most appropriate for ages: 14+
How I got it: For review for tour 

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.

The concept of Someone Else's Life had great potential but the execution simply did not work for me.

Quite frankly, I hated all of the characters. There was not one that I found a redeeming quality in. That sounds really harsh, but it's the truth. They each came across as almost laughably stupid and occasionally psychotic, and even if they weren't, I doubt I would've ever connected to them, because they weren't even very well developed.

This book also suffered from a lack of development in several other areas. Some plot points that seemed to deserve more of our time were brushed over (one scene in particular in which a girl cut herself...and then it was only mentioned once. Um). Basically, instead of having a well-developed, complexly layered story, the book relied on twist after twist to hold the reader's interest. In all honesty, it read like an ABC Family show in that way. Someone Else's Life was also constantly over-dramatic...again, like an ABC Family show.

Despite a good start, a fascinating premise, and learning about a disease I haven't heard much about, this book was (obviously) not for me at all. Though I'm in the minority, I suppose, as the book has received numerous positive reviews and the thumbs-up from my grandmother who I usually have similar reading tastes to. So if it still sounds like something you'd enjoy, maybe you should look into reading it.

Plot: Suffered.

Characters: Don't get me started.

Writing: Pretty good, but the author definitely over-used the exclamation points, in my opinion.

Ending: Fitting, I suppose.

Kid friendly: There was language and sex and a self-harm scene.

Overall:

I would groan when I read this book.

This book seemed to endlessly frustrate me. It seems to have its adoring fans, but I was not one of them.

(Note: This review makes me feel evil...I don't mean to be evil...)