This book review is part of another book tour organized by Dianne of Oops! I Read a Book Again and Pinoy Book Tours. Thanks so much for including me in the tour!
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Title: The Originals
Author: Cat Patrick
Date of Publication: May 7, 2013
Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers
Pages: 304
Purchase Links: Amazon
About the Author:
Cat Patrick is an author of books for teens. Her debut novel, FORGOTTEN (available now), is about a girl who can remember the future instead of the past, and was praised by NYT bestselling author of Thirteen Reasons Why, Jay Asher, as a “mindbending,” one-sitting read. The book is being translated into 21 languages and Paramount bought the movie rights, with True Grit’s Hailee Steinfeld attached to star as the main character, London Lane.
Patrick’s second (unrelated) novel, REVIVED, is about a girl who’s part of a secret government program to test a drug that brings people back from the dead. REVIVED will be available in the US May 2012, and in the UK and Australia Summer 2012.
Patrick lives near Seattle with her husband and twin 3-year-olds, and is afraid of zombies, planes, and zombies on planes.
Visit her online at www.catpatrick.com.
Summary (from Goodreads):
A riveting new story from Cat Patrick, author of Forgotten and Revived.
17-year-olds Lizzie, Ella, and Betsey Best grew up as identical triplets… until they discovered a shocking family secret. They’re actually closer than sisters, they’re clones. Hiding from a government agency that would expose them, the Best family appears to consist of a single mother with one daughter named Elizabeth. Lizzie, Ella, and Betsey take turns going to school, attending social engagements, and a group mindset has always been a de facto part of life…
Then Lizzie meets Sean Kelly, a guy who seems to see into her very soul. As their relationship develops, Lizzie realizes that she’s not a carbon copy of her sisters; she’s an individual with unique dreams and desires, and digging deeper into her background, Lizzie begins to dismantle the delicate balance of an unusual family that only science could have created.
My Review:
The minute I found out about the plot of this story, I was immediately excited. All my life I’ve been intrigued by twins and multiples and have even wished I had my own twin. So, reading about girls who looked like triplets but were actually clones was something I was totally interested in.
I’m not big on science fiction, though, so I was a little worried that there might be a lot of that stuff in the book. Fortunately, although Cat Patrick touched on that aspect, it wasn’t too much at all and there were none of the too technical details that most people would not understand. She did a really great job of injecting just the right amount of information to make the book interesting and exciting.
I really loved the characters of Lizzie, Ella and Betsey. I would think that clones would have very similar personalities and traits. But these three girls, although they look like exact replicas, are actually quite different from each other from their taste in clothes, music and even boys. It really did seem more like they were triplets rather than clones.
So, their frustration about having to pretend to be just one person, Elizabeth Best to the rest of the world, is something I can understand. Especially when two of them started falling in love. I mean, it was only natural for them as teenagers to want to explore the world and be interested in relationships. I can relate to the torture of being forbidden to go out of the house and being forbidden to see the boy who makes you happy. Ahhh, young love!
Truthfully, though, the love story of Lizzie and Sean Kelly was really so sweet but real. There were the usual boy meets girl scenes that are common but the way they were written made the love story more exciting. Even if Sean eventually found out the truth about the girls, he remained loyal and supportive to them, despite his initial shock. Which is not to say that he didn’t get frustrated about it. His being honest about his frustration is what actually made it more real.
The story centered more on Lizzie’s point of view though. I would have liked some sections of the book to be written from Ella and Betsey’s points of view. Not that I think the story would have been better that way but only because I could identify with all three girls.
It was really an exciting read that I finished the book faster than I thought I would. The climax was unexpected. Although there were already clues that something was going to happen, I wasn’t quite sure what it would be. So, Patrick really did a good job on building it up. The ending though was actually more simple than what I thought it would be. I actually wanted there to be more. But unfortunately, the book had to end. That’s really the only disappointing thing I can say about it.
I really, REALLY hope there would be a part 2. I totally loved this book and I’d love to read more.
Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
