Emma Lord will, I’m sure, have another hit on her hands with this cute romance/contemporary about finding your interests and learning to accept yourself.
Abby is our main character. She’s a difficult person to get to know initially – even though we are seeing things from her point of view – because I always got a sense of her holding something back and not wanting to reveal her true thoughts about some key issues.
From early on we learn that she has two best friends, one of whom she has a serious crush on, and since the death of her beloved grandfather she is not coping in school. Her parents hover and try to help her, but we definitely get the impression of a family that is getting by rather than flourishing.
Our big twist comes early on when Abby helps her friend Leo (the one she has the not so secret crush on) by signing up to a DNA registry site. She is stunned to learn through the site that she has a sister. One that she knew nothing about.
Abby meets Savannah, her adopted sister, and learns that they appear to be nothing alike. The girls want to know what happened…so concoct a ridiculous scheme to allow them both to attend summer camp.
During this summer, Abby develops as a person. She finds her voice, starts to move on from the things holding her back and – eventually – finds romance. Things don’t go smoothly, and there’s a lot of people learning things because they happen to be in the right place at the wrong time that sometimes seems all too convenient.
The minor gripes aside, this was good fun and offered an entertaining story that also gave a fairly positive message to readers.