The Similars

Emmaline Chance returns to Darkwood Academy to begin her junior year without her best friend, Oliver, who died at summer’s start. Emma is still reeling from the loss, which is compounded when Oliver appears at school in another form. Darkwood has welcomed “the Similars”—six clones of high-profile families’ children, made without permission or knowledge through stolen umbilical cord blood—into the student body. One of them, Levi Gravelle, is Oliver’s clone. When Emma’s friend Pru is attacked, Emma begins to investigate Oliver’s research, Darkwood’s history, and the clones’ connection, and she needs the Similars’ help. Television writer Hanover authors a fast-paced thriller about identity and love, but shallow character building and a lack of sound logic may prove a hurdle for readers uninterested in suspending disbelief. Ages 14–up. [em]Agent: Sasha Raskin, A Beautiful Mess Entertainment. (Jan.) [/em]