Author: Paige Harbison
Expected publication: January 31st 2012 by HarlequinTeen
Rating: ♥♥♡ rounded to ♥♥♥
Goodreads summary:
They call me 'New Girl'...Racquel's thoughts:
Ever since I arrived at exclusive, prestigious Manderly Academy, that’s who I am. New girl. Unknown. But not unnoticed—because of her.
Becca Normandy—that’s the name on everyone’s lips. The girl whose picture I see everywhere. The girl I can’t compare to. I mean, her going missing is the only reason a spot opened up for me at the academy. And everyone stares at me like it’s my fault.
Except for Max Holloway—the boy whose name shouldn’t be spoken. At least, not by me. Everyone thinks of him as Becca’s boyfriend but she’s gone, and here I am, replacing her. I wish it were that easy. Sometimes, when I think of Max, I can imagine how Becca’s life was so much better than mine could ever be.
And maybe she’s still out there, waiting to take it back.
God knows why, but I used to think this book is about mermaids when in fact this is contemporary retelling of Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. I never read Rebecca so I can't say how effective this retelling is but now I'm definitely interested in where the roots of this story come from.
The main character is 'New Girl' who we don't know the real name of until the second to last page or so. I really liked this tactic, it made me want to read more to find out 'New Girl's' real name but also, it was effective in highlighting how unwelcome to the school 'New Girl' is.
'New Girl' was quite the likable character, she wasn't a whiner, not when she found out she was moving her senior year of she school- she learned to live with things or even when people at school were being nasty to her. What I liked most though, is that she stood up for herself. She put most of everyone who directly attacked her in place and I found that admirable. I also really liked the alternating chapters between 'New Girl' and Becca, the girl who goes missing and whom 'New Girl' replaces at the school.
My problem in the book lay with Max. The romance between me and Davis, which happens to be my cellular device, has more chemistry then Max and 'New Girl'. I did not understand why they liked each other, where the attraction was or how they ever started getting involved romantically. To a super romance junkie like me, this was a real bother. I would have liked seeing more of them together or just more of Max to help build his characters better.
Otherwise the mystery was nice, the portrayal of the teen world accurate (yes, teenagers play beer pong, get drunk, have parties and much worse in my experience) and I don't regret reading this book, there was an especially great passage at the end that bumped the book to an almost 3 hearts. I don't want to give anyting away but the passage ends with:
And then, very suddenly, there was no "now."
Rating: 2.5 hearts rounded to 3~ the romance could have used more developing but otherwise, a good book.
First:
The panoramic view outside the window of the bus showed a world that wasn't mine.
Favorite:
It's not like like if she came back, we'd have a Godzilla versus Mothra fight...
Teaser:
I could not be afraid or timid.
*thanks to publisher for providing a copy for me to review via Netgalley*
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