Marit Weisenberg

Poppy's family is on the move, again. Keeping their identity a secret, never letting anyone get to close. She's been on the run her whole life. New names, new cities, new schools. Her mom doesn't leave home ofter, her dad is always on the watch. When they settle at a new spot in California, her mom seems different. Her parents calm, practiced exterior seems frayed. Poppy, for the first time, falls in love with an impossibly handsome, privileged boy and for the first time she starts to think about her own future.
Family secrets are revealed and truths uncovered as Poppy tries to figure out who she is beyond her insular family unit.… (más)

4 1/2 stars. I have been in a reading slump for several weeks and this book pulled me out of it. Poppy and her family have been on the run all of her life. She and her sister know better than to make friends or give out any revealing personal information. But Poppy is about to turn 18 and she wonders what will happen to her once she becomes an adult. She convinces her parents to let her go to a summer school class which gives her a glimpse of what her future could be. She meets a teacher who wants to be her mentor and a boy who could be more than a friend. Poppy begins to search for information about her parents' identities. Who are they? Why are they hiding? Unused to technology, her actions put her parents in jeopardy. How much should Poppy sacrifice for her family when she doesn't even know the truth about her parents? What about her future? And what will she decide when none of her choices give her everything she wants?… (más)

This book is all about finding your place in life, about the choices we make and their consequences and how much we are willing to risk for the people we love .

Julia Jaynes and her family are part of a race of super-evolved humans who have to suppress their abilities from outsiders in order to keep from being discovered.

Julia Jaynes is the daughter of leader Novak, but he is more than a father; he is leader of a group of people called the Puras who have extraordinary powers, and he and his leadership team are trying to keep everyone safe from the rest of the world. They are a highly evolved race of human beings. Julia, her family, and a small group of others live amongst ordinary normal humans. They stick together keeping their talents hidden from the humans while living in plain view.

One day while out in public, Julia accidentally exposes a little too much of her abilities. In punishment for saving her younger sister from drowning she is relegated from a select Prep School to public Austin high school with strict instructions to blend in and make sure she appears as a normal high school kid until further notice!

It’s was hard enough at their super elite private school where their father’s money means something, so public school proves a challenge.

Julia realises she can read the mind of a boy named John and before they both realise it, they are developing feelings for each other, becoming friends and then lovers. Now she must decide if John is worth the risk of permanent banishment.

There are some interesting twists and sub-plots, especially at the end and the many twists help bring that realization that your actions can really change the way you and others perceive the world around you.

This is definitely a book for Twilight and Fallen fans.

This book will be published on 3 Oct 2017… (más)

What a strange and convoluted book this was!
 
I suppose I expected it to be a bit more fantastical, a bit more whimsical, a bit more sci-fi, and a lot more exciting, but... it wasn't. I started and stopped it many times because I kept getting bored.
 
I really just failed to understand a conflict early on between Julia and her father that ends up with her going to public school. I could not buy that premise and had a lot of negative feelings and questions as to why this was happening.
 
None of these characters felt particularly well developed to me. There was potential, but from a strange sibling relationship to a forced family dynamic to an almost suicidal friendgroup, all of the connections in this seemed very artificial and unreal. And don't get me started on the John/Julia thing--there was zero substance there. I couldn't get involved.
 
I like the idea of highly-evolved humans, but again, the backstory wasn't developed here and the future story wasn't really either. I think I'd be far more interested in reading about a character set in the future of these people. There was potential for a lot of commentary on the environment and on society, but these were all overlooked. It ultimately came off as having a cult-like feel and I couldn't really root for anyone.
 
There are far more exciting and engaging YA books upcoming that deal with important themes, and I'm not too fond of this one as a stand in for those.
 
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.… (más)