This is being sold as a YA Dystopian, I didn’t find that much of that in here, I mean yes there are clones in the story, there are self-driving cars, and watches that have programs that you can interact with, but outside of that I didn’t find much.

The story takes place at a prestigious high school, where the most elite of the elite attend. We are introduced to Emmaline (Emma) Chase, she is starting her Junior year, with much disdain. Her best friend Oliver will not be there since he committed suicide during the summer. Emma gives off the vibe that she just wants to keep her head down and get through her Junior year. There are some new students that will be joining the school, they have dubbed themselves “The Simliars”. They are clones of six students that are already attending the school, including Levi, who happens to be the clone of Oliver. Emma is not thrilled to see Levi at the school, yet she can’t seem to stop thinking about him, which turns into an unlikely friendship, then later into a romance.

There is some mystery to the story, along with an attack on Emma’s best friend Pru. Emma wants to know more about the Similars and what they are about since she catches them sneaking out in the middle of the night.

I did have some issues with Emma, like when she finds out about why the Similars are meeting in the middle of the night, she seems to just go with it, rather than be leery of them. When she finds out what is really going on at the school, she doesn’t alert anyone. The romance even felt wrong somehow.

The ending was more of a WTF that I didn’t fully expect. There was a small hint at part of the ending that I guessed at. There was a bit of things that did happen at the end that confused me a bit, since it was hard to tell what was real and what wasn’t, but the ending did have a cliffhanger This is what will get me to read the next book, I need to know how and why the first book ended the way it did.

ARC provided by the publisher, Sourcebooks Fire, in exchange for an honest review.

"Who owns my DNA, anyway? Scientists? Other people who want to play God? Or me?"

The Similars: 6 clones who were created on accident. They've just arrived at Darkwood Academy, a prestigious boarding school, where they'll be starting their junior year - alongside their originals.

Emmaline Chance is another student at Darkwood, but her focus isn't exactly on the buzz surrounding the clones. Over the summer, her best friend Oliver died, and she's desperately trying to navigate life without him. She's having a hard time, but it isn't about to get any easier, because when the Similars are introduced, she ends up staring Oliver right in the face. Only it isn't Oliver - it's his clone, Levi.

Is this sounding like a wild ride of a book yet? Because this is just where the story STARTS. I was so intrigued by the sounds of this book. A book on cloning, set in a high school? I was all over it. I really did enjoy the read, and the first half of the book gave me exactly what I was hoping for. After that, things got a little out of control; it was still so incredibly entertaining, but the believability really went out the door. What didn't change throughout, though, was my love for the characters in this book. They were hands-down my favorite part. Overall, I gave this book 3.5 stars.

Emma: A junior at Darkwood Academy. We view everything that's happening from Emma's perspective. The thing I love most about Emma is the loyalty and love she has for her friends. She doesn't have many, but she'd do anything for Pru, and would have done anything to help Oliver. She doesn't get close to many people, but the friends she does have, she keeps for life.

"Everyone around me, and I mean everyone, leaves, or dies, or gets attacked in a boathouse. If I were you, I'd watch your back."

Oliver: Emma's best friend, who committed suicide over the summer. Emma was the one to find his body. Through Emma's narration, we learn that Oliver was smart and quirky, and Emma's other half in every way.

"I'll be your best friend for fifty more years. And after that? You have to reapply."

Levi: Oliver's clone, and one of the similars. Despite looking like Oliver, Levi is nothing like him, and Emma hates him on sight for wearing Oliver's face. Levi is easily my favorite character in this book. He's sarcastic and guarded but kind underneath it all. Can you say swoon? I also couldn't stop thinking about how he felt about all this. He didn't choose to be cloned, and he certainly didn't choose to be wearing Oliver's face.

"This is his worst fear, that he'll only be seen as a copy. A replacement for a dead boy."

Prudence: Emma's best friend and roommate. Prudence has her own clones named Pippa, and is a strong voice for the pro-clone movement. I really wanted more insight and depth to Pru's character, and hope we get it in the next installment.

This book, while written in a light tone, brings up some pretty heavy topics and questions. First and foremost, there are major trigger warnings for suicide, loss of a loved one, and some mentions of pill/substance abuse. Also some warnings for abandonment, torture, bullying, and abuse. As a teenage girl, Emma has to learn how to navigate the world after losing her best friend to suicide, and being the one to find his body. If any of this is triggering to you, proceed with caution.

One of the things this book did extremely well was make me think. We live in a world where cloning could be a real possibility in the future. Reading this book brought up so many important questions, and I thought about them for days after. How would you feel if you were cloned? Does sharing DNA with someone else mean you are no longer unique? What makes you YOU? Just because we have the technology for something, does that mean we should use it? I don't have the answer to any of these questions, and my sincere hope is that before we take that leap, someone else does.

I did have my issues with this book. I have a hard time loving books where I'm not a huge fan of the MC, and you guys, Emma just didn't do it for me. Beyond her love and loyalty for her friends, I felt like we never really knew anything about her. In fact, except for Levi, the character development overall was pretty poor. And like I mentioned above, this book quickly spiraled out of control. There was WAY too much going on; it was twist after twist, and not in a good way. It became so convoluted that I found myself backtracking because I felt like I missed something. While these things were definitely concerns, there is ONE MAJOR THING that caused me to bring my rating way down. When this book started, and I mean in chapter 2, I thought to myself in my head, "I bet THIS happens and if it really does I'm going to be so mad." Guess what friends. It happened. And I was mad.

Overall, this was a fun read! If you like action-packed futuristic stories, this one is probably for you. I will definitely pick up book 2 when it's released, because the cliff hanger is ROUGH you guys. Be prepared. And be kind to one another. xoxo

The Similars releases January 1, 2018

*All quotes are taken from an ARC and are subject to change upon publication.

Emma is going back to Darkwood Academy for her junior year without her best friend Oliver who committed suicide over the summer. It’s hard to get excited about the current gossip about six clones or “Similars” being enrolled at Darkwood, but when one of them is the clone of Oliver it’s hard to ignore. As she gets to know Levi and the other Similars she realizes that even though they have the same DNA they have individual personalities and aren’t exact copies of the original. As pro and con Cloning groups spring up on campus and around the nation Emma is enmeshed in an investigation into how her friend Oliver’s death was tied to the man who developed and raised the six Similars.

The Similars had such a great premise! Can you imagine showing up for school and finding your face on a cloned classmate? It’s not like high school isn’t difficult enough, right? Then there are the political and moral ambiguities of whether cloning should be accepted or not? These are all details that helped create this finely crafted novel that played out as more of a political intrigue then a YA fantasy novel. What struck me the most is that the hate and bigotry in this novel is not necessarily determined by color or societal hierarchy, in this case bigotry comes in the form of originals and copies. A subject that is topical in today’s world as much as in a fantasy novel. Although not quite yet to human copies. At least I don’t think so?

Emma was a wonderful heroine. She never sat back and just watched, she was always asking just one more question. That one last question always seemed to be slightly over the line but would give her the answers she’d need to make a decision to move forward in her thinking or to fall back on her upbringing. I really admired her fortitude. She never gave up on her friends, and never stopped looking into the Why’s and Who’s.

The Similars, even with all of their mysterious backgrounds and “special powers” seemed more real and fleshed out than their human counterparts. This definitely made it easier to like them but truly the humans were portrayed as pretty awful. You’d be inhuman to like the hateful attributes that were portrayed as “human”.

It took me a little while to warm up to Levi’s character. Emma was so distraught over Oliver’s death that you really felt her anguish over seeing his face on another guy. When she gets to know Levi and realizes they are really nothing alike he still keeps his distance until, well, he doesn’t. It’s really hard to talk about these characters without giving away a lot of the plot. I’ll just say that there is a reason that he keeps himself aloof, but Emma’s investigation makes him get involved and he goes all in emotionally at that point too.

The Similars was a very fast paced novel. Rebecca Hanover filled the story with enough moral, political, and personal subplots that my mind didn’t stop to chew before swallowing this novel whole. When you get ready to read it have your snacks and a coke at your side because you will NOT want to put it down!

Thank you NetGalley & Sourcebooks Fire for an advanced copy of the book. Below is my honest review of the book.

I enjoyed this well enough that I want to read the next book, but it is far from perfect. This is another YA novel where one seemingly normal 16 year old girl can outsmart lots of smart people, teens and adults alike, to get to the bottom of things.

In what seems to be the near-ish future, Emmaline Chase is that special 16 year old girl attending Darkwood Academy, an elite school in the woods of Vermont. (Is that a redundant statement? Are we assuming Vermont = Woods?) It is September of her Junior year and she is returning after the suicide death of her BFF Oliver. It seems that the entire country is a buzz with news that six clones will be joining the school this year, one of which looks exactly like Oliver.

With the introduction of six clones, plus our main character Emma, some other students, faculty, and parents, there are just too many characters (some with similar names) for them to be easily remembered, much less experience much development. Once you can keep them straight, you pretty much know who they are throughout. This leads to some predictability about a third of the way through to the end. I enjoyed how things unfolded, but I can't say this felt like a unique take on a clone story. I imagine this would make a great CW teen show for the 2020 season.

Without giving much away, I will share some random thoughts.

1. Will there be a map of the school grounds in the final version of this book (or in book 2?) Over 400 pages, but I don't really have a feel for Darkwood Academy or the grounds.

2. Everyone is shady as hell. Even without knowing the exact details, Emma gets wind of some diabolical motivations and is just like OK, very well, seems legit.

3. The Ten is like a not-so-secret society for the top students in the school. If you make it as a junior, you're in for your senior year, too. Do their rankings not change? Does it matter if you were to suddenly start to do worse or others performed better than they had done so previously? What is the purpose of this group? It didn't seem like there was any point other than to say you're a part of The Ten as opposed to saying you were 4th in a class of 94 students.

4. Ending felt rushed to the point that it was a little confusing as to whether it was real or imagined.

Overall, it is a quick and fun read, just don't think to much and maybe make a character list to remind yourself at a glance who the students are, who The Similars are, etc. I'll be looking out for the next in the series because it is an interesting premise with twists and turns, even if some aren't totally new ideas. I hope we learn more about this world in the next book, especially in regards to the other clones out there and how they live.

Unfortunately I was unable to completely finish this book. It's definitely a "me" problem; I had a hard time connecting with the characters and I felt like the story was predictable. I'm so sorry I did not love this book. It just wasn't for me. I will not be rating this on goodreads or my blog since I did not finish it and do not want to hurt the overall ratings. Thank you so much for providing this arc to me in exchange for an honest review. I truly appreciate it.

The Similars by Rebecca Hanover is a story like none other I have ever read and leads the reader on a wild ride of mystery, intrigue, and emotions.

The story follows Emmaline as she deals with “The Similars”, or clones of other students who have been admitted to her classy boarding school. One of those similars is the clone of her dead best friend, making the situation all the more difficult.

The Similars was a very unique story. I have read a lot of YA and Teen fiction and have never read something quite like this. Hanover had aspects of science fiction, romance, mystery/thriller, and more all wrapped into this incredible story. Hanover’s writing style is very smooth. She does not jump around like a lot of authors do now-a-days. While this story flashes back to memories occasionally, the main plot line is the primary focus the entire book. Just like in life, the story slowly developed revealing new information that fills holes in the story line until the big “ah ha!” moment at the climax of the story. It was the perfect mixture of suspense and excitement to make me keep flipping pages and saying “just one more chapter.”

Emmaline’s character was beautifully written and believable. I hate when I read a teenage aged book and the teens are doing things that real life teens don’t typically do. This one was reasonable and realistic. Each character, bad and good alike, added something to the story. Hanover didn’t give too much of a description, which I prefer so I can build my own image of the characters in my head.

While this is a YA fiction or teen fiction novel, anyone who likes a little sci-fi and a lot of mystery and thriller vibes will love this novel. There is so much substance to it that there is no way to be bored while reading. I loved the technical aspects, the bit of romance, lots of mystery, and a touch of thrill. Something for everyone. Definitely pick up a copy of this must read for 2019!

This wasn't as good as I was expecting and hoping it to be. However, it wasn't a bad book either. I feel like the whole Similar situation was pretty fleshed out and you learn about them and their upbringing throughout the whole book which was really nice. I did like the main character, I felt like she was very realistic. There were a few reveals that I definitely didn't see coming. I am interested in seeing where things go in the sequel!

Many thanks to NetGalley, Sourcebooks Fire, and Rebecca Hanover for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are 100% my own and independent of receiving an advance copy.

Imagine the chance of going to school with the first set of human clones. The Similars, a group of six teenagers, will be attending Darkwood Academy and Emma is less than excited. Created by a rogue lab technician, they have been kept secret, raised apart from society, with only each other for company by a mysterious guardian. Until now. Now they will be going to school with their human counterparts. What will they be like? Will they be exactly like their doubles? Will they like the same things, behave the same way, be good at the same things? I mean, they have the exact same DNA. Emma might be more excited if one of them weren’t the exact copy of her best friend, Oliver. Oliver is the only one who won’t be meeting his clone because he committed suicide last summer. Emma still hasn’t come to terms with his death and now she has to run into his face everywhere - in class, in the halls, in the cafeteria. But it isn’t Oliver, it is Levi, his clone. Levi would rather not have to walk around with some dead kid’s face but he wasn’t given a choice in the matter. He gets that Emma can’t stand him, but she doesn’t even know him. But Emma doesn’t trust the clones, something is off with them. They can’t be trusted. But no one believes her. Now Prudence, her human friend has been attacked. Was it the clones? Was it someone who wants the clones dead and got the wrong twin? Emma is determined to find out and that might just give her some answers to why Oliver died.

I really like the premise of this story. The execution lacked for me. There were too many things going on and I didn’t find any of the story lines very exciting. It had potential but without development it fell flat. I didn’t really bond with any of the characters, so I didn’t really care what happened to any of them. There was the usual teenage angst, very predictable stuff with the cool kids being mean to Emma and her friends, of course the Emma/Levi romantic storyline, really nothing new, not even an interesting take on the old stuff. It was so predictable that the author didn’t even bother to develop the romantic storyline. They didn’t like each other and then they were in love - for no reason at all. Having six clones meant that there were too many to develop any of their characters, but even as a group we didn’t really get to know them. You could have had their point of view told through a character like Pippa. There were some enjoyable parts and the ending had some worthwhile bits, but overall I was disappointed.

Posted to Goodreads: Darkwood Academy has always been know for it's prestige and the fame of its student. However, now it is known for just six new students. These students are known as "The Similiars" and are clones of elite Darkwood students. Emmaline isn't concerned about her new classmates. She has spent the last few months morning her best friend Oliver. However, Emmaline is pulled out of her mourning when one the new students, Levi, is revealed to be the clone of Oliver. Emmaline is drawn to him and knows she can't stay away especially when she learns Levi may hold the secrets to finding her lost classmate.

This was fast but very basic YA science fiction. It felt very similar to other books of it's kind with the mystery and the science fiction being muddled by a possible romance. The characters and the tone of the story felt more appropriate for tween readers with YA sci-fi fans wanting a little more in plot and character development.

This book was really awesome! We got to deal with the mystery of what Oliver tried to tell her, and deal with her emotions when the Similars come to school and Levi being Oliver's clone, and so much more! It was a really great book!

I felt bad for Emma. She's basically alone, her mom died when she was young and her dad is distant, her best friend just died, and she only really has one other friend. While that isn't easy, she does deal with it and lives her life. And then everything starts happening, and yeah, I really enjoyed reading about her going on this journey! Especially that end! That was pretty shocking! So many revelations!

What I really loved about this book, is that it's less of a discussion about the moral rights around cloning, but more of a show, not tell, demonstration, we see the realities of what's going on. Sure, the characters do have conversations that touch on this topic, but it's not to preach, but to explain how it affects them, personally.

There were a few times in this book were I was like, why don't you contact the police? This is wrong, you know that, you want to do something about it, why don't go to the police? It's not like the bad guys are specifically targeting them, well, Emma. Sure, the police didn't do a good job with what they were told about, but this was bigger then that, and probably would've involved a lot of police scrutiny-like, all of the country, maybe the world, vs. just the people in the area and maybe the families of the students. Yeah.

Loved this book, and I'm really excited for the next book!

A mix of Unwind's scifi base and We Were Liars' intrigue, The Similars is more than it appears on the surface. The tale of Darkwood Academy's student body through the eyes of grieving Emmaline as they discover that six of their students have been illegally cloned, raised on a secluded island by a wealthy benefactor, and are joining them at school this year.
Emmaline is a relatable character for both male and female readers. She isn't "overly girly" in her actions or thoughts as to alienate a male audience. However, I would like to see book 2 with Levi and Emmaline alternating perspective. There's plenty of real world issues to this story to keep readers motivated. The end is one that will be discussed at length as readers find one another, and while it comes out of left field, it is well-established throughout the book to be feasible.
The "secret mission" aspect of the storytelling didn't really come together for me. Perhaps it was a lack of urgency behind the characters' actions...also the clones' apparent superpowers were almost a throwaway. We don't NEED them for a compelling story. However, they may come in handy during the second book, which I will definitely be reading because I HAVE to know what happens next.

The Similars is the first installment in author Rebecca Hanover's The Similars series. 16-year old Emmaline Chance is returning to her prestigious Vermont Boarding School called Darkwood Academy just months after losing her best friend, and her heart, Oliver. But, things are about to change radically with the addition of 6 new students to the school. What is so special about these kids? They are clones of students who already attend the school. But, one clone in particular has Emma all twisted up and confused.

The arrival of these clones triggers Emmaline because one of the clones, Levi, has replaced her dead friend, Oliver. It is also the fact that the clones are very secretive and appear to be up to something nefarious. As Emma gets to know Pippa, Jago, Theodora, Ansel, Maude, and Levi, she learns multitudes of good and bad about them. Then the unthinkable happens. Her roommate, Prudence, is attacked and left to die. There is so much mystery surrounding the events that took Prudence away, that it will lead to some pretty heavy and revealing secrets.

This leads Emma to dig deep into the schools secrets, the secrets of the parents of the clones, the secrets of the schools teachers and administrators, the clones themselves, and the mysterious benefactor who 16 years ago, stole DNA from 6 babies from 6 very high profile parents. These clones where created without the families knowledge, or permission which also led to cloning being deemed illegal in the US. I will say this. I suspended belief for a bit in this story.

I don't believe in cloning. I think it's amoral to create a life out of umbilical cord blood or any other method. But, scientists have used umbilical cord blood, which contains stem cells, to treat hematopoietic and other genetic disorders. I do enjoy the stories written about clones if they are written well. I do think the ending and the surprises where a bit on the predictable side. I don't know where the author is going to go from where she left off this book, but I might be interested in reading the sequel once it comes out presumably in 2019.

Similar books: Diabolic by S.J. Kincaid, Replica by Lauren Oliver.

While I did not personally enjoy the book, I can absolutely recognize the audience for it. The story was clique and predictable, but the concept was interesting. I would be interested in more world building, since we see glimpses of the outside world but not full explanations. I will order this for my library but I will not be reading the sequel.

Book Review: The Similars by Rebecca Hanover
Publishing date: January 1, 2019
read courtesy of netgalley.com

I'm going to start at the end... there's a sequel in waiting. That gives you an idea about the ending: it's a cliffhanger. Unfortunately, I'll never find out how it all ends; I won't be purchasing the sequel for my high school library. I'm not sure how much my students recognize cliched writing, but since it interfered with my enjoyment of the book, I'm not going to expose them to the triteness.

As a mystery, Hanover did what she was supposed to do, provide clues or throw out distractions as to the "real" perpetrator. However, I found these clues too obvious -- they were spelled out instead of implied or alluded to -- which took some of the guesswork out of reading a mystery. Hanover also heavily depended on the readers' willingness to suspend disbelief that a 16-year-old girl would be able to save her best friend from the evil mad scientist when the friend'as own father couldn't or wouldn't -- in the guise of having to wait for his wife to die -- so it HAD to be the teenager to come to the rescue.

One of the Similars, who are all brilliant geniuses, couldn't estimate how large the place from which he came was, claiming that it was hard to "have a sense of scale" when you're inside the place. Really? That felt out of character. (If it sounds like a nitpick, it is; but it irked me to have such a blatant character misrepresentation.)

Basically, the story was a little too schizophrenic for me. the majority of the story was about cloning and clones, and then the last part suddenly became about virtual reality and two mad scientist brothers. Then at the end... I mean near the cliffhanger... a character who had been declared dead via suicide was found alive and returns to the boarding school. Clunk... the cliffhanger was only a 2-foot drop for me. In spite of those who knew cloning was involved, the rest of the world didn't (wouldn't the suicide have made the news?) How could a teenager reappear, and no one called the FBI? No one did because then it wouldn't be a cliffhanger. But like I said, it wasn't a cliffhanger for me. I stepped back up the 2-foot drop and walked away. It was my suspension of disbelief that was the only thing left hanging.

Emma returns to her prestigious high school, the Darkwood Academy, for her junior year, but it won’t be the same without her best friend, Oliver, who committed suicide three months earlier. She just wants to get through the year without failing. When she arrives at the Academy, the students are all excited because the Academy has accepted six new students. The new students, called the Similars, are clones of existing students. The practice of cloning was outlawed long ago, but these six were cloned by a lab tech without the sanction of anyone. When she comes face-to-face with Oliver she thinks she’s finally lost her mind only to be told this Oliver is a clone of her best friend. When she and four other students are chosen to be members of the elite group, known as the Ten, she has to deal with having the non-Oliver clone being one of the Ten, too.

This is a fast-paced YA novel with interesting and likable main characters while the secondary characters can be found in most high schools and, thus, will be familiar to readers. The plot is very interesting with the author addressing issues like, what would it be like to be an illegally cloned high school student and instantly hated by some of the other students just for being who you are. The writing is excellent and the pacing fast.

The ending, while somewhat predictable, would lead readers to hope this is the beginning of a series and that the second book is in the not-too-distant future.

This book was an overall good read. It did lack some of the thrills I was hoping for, but was original premise, chilling, and well written. I thought it was an enjoyable read, especially for those that love ya.
I will be using in a challenge and telling chapter chatter pub about it.

Emma is mourning the loss of her best friend Oliver to suicide as she begins her junior year at the prestigious Darkwood Academy. It’s been all over the news that Darkwood has accepted six illegally created clones, who call themselves “The Similars”. But no one is prepared when The Similars are revealed to be clones of six other Darkwood students...including Oliver. Emma tries to avoid Levi, Oliver’s clone, and the other Similars but can’t help but be drawn into the mystery of their creation and purpose. Raised in isolation by a reclusive millionaire, the Similars aren’t quite normal, but Emma can’t decide if their oddities are interesting...or sinister.

I enjoyed this book up until the last 25%. I think the author could have worked a little bit more on the atmosphere of Darkwood, as it almost felt like an American Hogwarts but lacked the character and magic. The plot was really unique; setting is American but 50-75 years in the future. It was nice blend of sci-fi, mystery, and YA romance, even if the romance was predictable. It also got quite political, as “clone rights” becomes a hot button issue, as many students and teachers are vehemently anti-clone.

As mentioned, my only issue was with the end. It was a frenzied blend of unrealistic action, confusing technology sequences, and a truly infuriating cliffhanger. But still an enjoyable debut and I look forward to the sequels.

The Similars is a binge-worthy YA thriller with sci-fi elements and I look forward to seeing more from this debut author. Set at an elite boarding school (yes please!) six clones known as The Similars are set to begin attending high school alongside their "originals". Raised in seclusion, they were the result of a laboratory mistake and this is their first foray into the regular world.

Emmaline is grieving the death and suicide of her best friend Oliver, and when she discovers that one of the Similars is his clone, she is furious. But as the story progresses, she realizes that all may not all be as it seems. Who are the Similars and why were they really created? What are they doing at the prestigious Darkwood school? We also get an exploration of clone rights that closely mirrors discussions surrounding marriage equality and immigration. This is a slightly futuristic page-turner that is a lot of fun to read, despite a few pitfalls.

I have two main critiques of the book, although I imagine these are issues that might be the result of a less experienced writer, so I will definitely read more from this debut. First, the discussions of clone rights can feel a little heavy-handed and on the nose at times, with almost exact correlations to Prop 8 in California, for instance. While I appreciate the effort to bring attention to the importance of similar issues, it could have been handled more deftly.

The other thing is that in the last portion of the book, we get some rather convenient events combined with a lengthy speech by the villain that is quite the info-dump. This constitutes a good bit of telling rather than showing things that could have been woven in throughout the narrative. Like I said, these are issues that I expect will improve with writing experience and I think this is a fairly strong debut for the genre. I enjoyed the setting, the plot twists, and most of the characters so I do plan to continue with the series. I received an advance copy for review via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

I have had a review copy of this novel for months and have been waiting for it to be closer to publication, so I finally picked it up. I love the idea behind this novel, clones going to the same school as their originals. It seemed like the perfect set up for a kill-your-double story. While that wasn’t really how this story went, it was still very interesting. It was a bit of a sci-fi mixed with a bit of mystery. This was a knockout debut for Rebecca Hanover.

The Similars had an interesting plot with a few really great twists thrown in that totally caught me off guard. It kept me reading with a decent pace for most of the novel. I love novels set at elite boarding schools, but with the clones thrown in I was immediately drawn to pick this one up. The idea behind this novel was strong and had great groundwork for this novel to go in many different directions. While I did really like where it went, I felt like it could have been stronger. I guess I am still pulling for a kill-your-double story.

There were things that I really liked about this story. I really liked that there was a secret society for the top ten best students complete with hazing rituals in the middle of the night. I also found it to be an interesting idea to have Emmaline’s dead best friend have a clone. It brings up some really difficult issues with grief that I wanted to see confronted in this novel. As someone who has lost some friends, I expected this novel to be emotional when it came to dealing with her best friend’s death, but it wasn’t at all.

The character development is where I felt like this novel was lacking. I didn’t feel much of an emotional connection with these characters. While it wasn’t entirely necessary , as there was a lot of action, it would have made the story stronger. While I did really enjoy reading The Similars, I didn’t feel super connected to the characters, so I don’t think I will continue on with the series.

Overall The Similars was a fun read where science fiction met a bit of mystery. The pacing was done pretty well and it kept me reading the whole time. The character development was lacking a bit and I feel like some important issues about grief were left unexplored. For a first novel it is impressive, and while I might not follow the rest of the series, I would be interested to see what else Rebecca Hanover can come up with. This was a fast read, but it didn’t have much depth to it.

The concept of this book was really intriguing, but the execution was not the best. I was genuinely interested in the story and the characters, but there were too many things that I didn't like and thought could have been better which severely decreased my enjoyment of the book overall. There were too many aspects of the plot that were too conveniently written and came off as unbelievable. And even though I was interested in the characters' story, I didn't connect to the main character at all.

I do have to give props to the author for the plot twists at the end, because usually I can see those kinds of twists from a mile away, but I was completely blindsided by this one! That's not to say that it came completely out of left field - there were definitely hints of it, I just was too focused on other aspects of the story to put it all together.

Overall, an intriguing concept and interesting idea, but I wasn't too keen on the actually execution and ended up not enjoying the book too much.