Pretending to be Erica
by Michelle Painchaud
In this young adult thriller, a teenager who was raised by a con artist attempts the ultimate con: impersonating a dead person. Thirteen years earlier, a little girl was kidnapped and killed, but never found. The heroine of the book was trained for years to step in as the missing girl, reintegrate into her privileged life, and steal a valuable painting from the family vault. It’s incredibly dangerous, and a million things could go wrong—after all, high school is difficult!
I’m such a sucker for high school drama. Perhaps because I enjoyed my years in high school, I always like revisiting the hyper dramatic scene in books and tv shows. In this high school, there are the popular kids, the charming foreign exchange student, the loner, and the bad-girl-Goth. All of them interact with the heroine, adding realism to a plot that isn’t accessible to most readers.
I enjoyed reading this teen book, and while for the most part Michelle Painchaud’s writing style flowed easily, there was a flashback element that I found a bit jarring. The tense and POV change, to make the readers understand how the protagonist has to disassociate with herself in order to pull off her assignment. I didn’t like that aspect, but if the premise appeals to you, check this out and it might not bother you.
I’m such a sucker for high school drama. Perhaps because I enjoyed my years in high school, I always like revisiting the hyper dramatic scene in books and tv shows. In this high school, there are the popular kids, the charming foreign exchange student, the loner, and the bad-girl-Goth. All of them interact with the heroine, adding realism to a plot that isn’t accessible to most readers.
I enjoyed reading this teen book, and while for the most part Michelle Painchaud’s writing style flowed easily, there was a flashback element that I found a bit jarring. The tense and POV change, to make the readers understand how the protagonist has to disassociate with herself in order to pull off her assignment. I didn’t like that aspect, but if the premise appeals to you, check this out and it might not bother you.