The Similars

The Similars
by Rebecca Hanover

From the publisher:
"A New York Times Bestseller!

Don't miss the series debut that readers are calling Gossip Girl meets The Umbrella Academy, set in an elite boarding school, where secret societies rule, nothing is as it seems, and the genetic copies of attending students have just joined the Junior class...

This fall, six new students are joining the junior class at the elite Darkwood Academy. But they aren't your regular over-achieving teens. They're DNA duplicates, and these "similars" are joining the class alongside their originals.

The Similars are all anyone can talk about. Who are they? What are the odds that all of them would be Darkwood students? And who is the madman who broke the law to create them? Emmaline Chance could care less. Her best friend, Oliver, died over the summer and it's all she can do to get through each day without him. Then she comes face-to-heartbreaking-face with Levi, Oliver's exact DNA copy and one of the Similars.

Emma wants nothing to do with the Similars, but she keeps getting pulled deeper into their world. She can't escape the dark truths about them or her prestigious school. No one can be trusted, not even the boy she is falling for with Oliver's face.

This exhilarating and riveting debut by Rebecca Hanover is the next obsession for readers who devoured Two Can Keep a Secret, One of Us Is Lying, Scythe, and Stronger, Faster, and More Beautiful."

The plot of this book was pretty fascinating and the characters were likable, but there was something about the writing that was off putting for me. And there is a pretty obvious political statement going on throughout the book which, for some reason, always irritates me in a young adult novel. However, I don't think middle schoolers will mind or even notice. All they will care about is the exciting story, the boarding school setting (my students LOVE boarding school settings!), and the romance. There are several twists that will keep them reading and the end will have them yelling for more! Luckily the second book has now come out so they won't have to wait. Is it the best book I have ever read? Nope. But I will be recommending it to certain students that I'm sure will love it.

Areas of concern:
*A small handful of cuss words.
* A few kisses and talk of wanting to spend the night but deciding it wasn't the time.
* Possibly just the idea of cloning.

Suggested Ages:

Publisher's Weekly - Ages 14+

School Library Journal - Grades 8+