Book Review: If You See Her by Lisa Leighton & Laura Stropki

Book Title & Author: Now You See Her by Lisa Leighton & Laura Stropki
Published by: Katherine Tegen Books on June 226th, 2018
Genre: Contemporary
Pages: 320
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
Goodreads
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Synopsis: AMELIA has always felt like a happy life is just out of reach. Having moved every few years with her mom and sister, she’s always had a hard time making and keeping friends; there’s never enough time, and never enough money to stay in one place. And now, in her senior year, right before tennis season, Mom wants to move again.

SOPHIE has a perfectly curated, Instagram-ready life, from her first singles wins to her cute, long-term boyfriend to the beautiful, landscaped home where she lives with her parents. Though they’re tennis teammates, the two girls almost never speak.

But then one night changes everything. When Amelia’s car breaks down on the side of the road in a rainstorm, a man she thinks is a Good Samaritan pulls over to help her. When he tries to abduct her instead, she escapes into oncoming traffic.

In one inexplicable moment, Amelia and Sophie switch bodies. Amelia wakes up in Sophie’s body. Amelia’s body is in a coma. Now Amelia needs to find a way to switch back into her own life—but before that, she must retrace her steps to unravel the mystery of the accident, her attempted abduction, and how it’s all tied to her mother’s secret past.

Review:
I don't usually read books that are co-authored. In fact, I think this book was the first one I've read that was co-authored. So I was nervous about not connecting with either girl or struggling with the way the story flowed. But, this book did not read like it had two different authors and to be honest, that's one of the few compliments I can actually give this book. Because the book itself was a giant bore with a lot of predictable stuff in it.

Both Sophie and Amelia were flat characters, with next to no character development. I couldn't really tell you much about them except the basics. The authors chose not to delve into the differences between the characters. Sophie was irritatingly materialistic with wealthy parents and Amelia was being raised by a single mom and she had a sister. Pretty much the only connection they had was tennis. And even the tennis stuff didn't show up much in the book. I was expecting it to have a much bigger part.

The secondary characters like Zach, Landon & Jake and Mae & the parents were all just horribly developed. I kept getting Landon & Jake confused and Zach was as dull as a blunt blade. I couldn't understand why Sophie was dating him, unless it was for her stuffy parents' benefit. I actually liked her with Landon much better.

I knew before the book ended who had tried to abduct Amelia despite the authors trying to turn it a different direction. The identity of the kidnapper was just so obvious to me. Especially when certain things about Amelia's life come to the surface.

It improved a little bit about 3 quarters of the way through it, but by that time, I was ready to just finish the book and move on. Learning the secrets of Amelia's mom's past was really the only interesting thing to happen. Probably because the phrase "family secrets" is a buzz-phrase for me. I love when books hint at family secrets.

Final thoughts: Underdeveloped characters ruined the book for me. Add that to a fair amount of predictability and you'll understand why I am not recommending this book.

Book Review: If Only by Jennifer Gilmore

Book Title & Author: If Only by Jennifer Gilmore
Published by: HarperTeen on July 31st, 2018
Genre: Contemporary
Pages: 288
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
Goodreads
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Synopsis: Before:

When Bridget imagined her life at sixteen, it didn’t look like this. She didn’t think that her boyfriend would dump her for another girl. And she certainly didn’t think that she would be pregnant. With just a few months until she gives birth, Bridget must envision an entirely new future—one for her baby. But as she sifts through the many paths and the many people who want to parent her child, she can’t help but feel that there is no right decision.

After:

Ivy doesn’t know much about her birth mother. She knows that she is now the same age Bridget was when she placed Ivy for adoption. She knows that Bridget was the one who named her. And she knows that fifteen years ago Bridget disappeared from Ivy’s and her adoptive moms’ lives. Ivy wants to discover more about herself, but as she goes to find Bridget, she can’t help but feel that the risks might far outweigh the benefits of knowing where she comes from and why her birth mother chose to walk away. 

Review:
I absolutely hate to be disappointed in books. In fact, I think it's my least favorite feeling ever. I had very negative feelings about her YA debut, We Were Never Here, but I decided to give her second YA book a shot. After all, it was a topic hardly ever broached in YA, so I was hoping it would be beautiful.

Not only was it not beautiful, but it was confusing as heck. Not only were there alternating timelines: Bridget's & Ivy's lives 17 years apart, but there were also random chapters about what would have happened to Ivy if Bridget had chosen another family for her. For each family Bridget considered, there was a what if chapter about their lives with Ivy. There were way too many characters involved in this book and none of them were developed well.

I was excited about this book because teen pregnancy & adoption stories are so rare in the YA universe. I was totally uninterested in either Bridget or Ivy's stories. Bridget had this irritating idyllic nature about her that really drove me insane. I know she was 16, but she was so naive about what it takes to raise a baby and how hard it was going to be. She wanted to raise the baby with her best friend Dahlia. Personally, I think Bridget had feelings for Dahlia, but they were ones she could never explore because of her super religious upbringing. Bridget's sexual orientation was never talked about, but was definitely insinuated.

Also, she really let the baby's father, Baylor get away with a LOT of crap. Like most importantly, not insisting that he meet ALL of the adoptive families Bridget was considering. He only met the first one and the last one. I actually happened to agree with Bridget & Baylor's parents: He was there for the beginning, he needed to be there for ALL of it.

I did want Ivy to meet her mother. I was super excited and hopeful for that scene. I was desperately hoping for some character development for Ivy at least. Bit we didn't get any of that. In fact, Ivy & Bridget's reunion happened off the page and I am still really, really annoyed by that. I wanted to see it on the page. I wanted to feel the emotions that were so completely lacking in this book. But nothing. 

I felt nothing positive the entire time I read this book and I really hate saying that.

Final thoughts: From the underdeveloped & flat characters to the massively confusing timelines to the addition of dozens of characters that were just there, this is a book that I would not recommend.