I just need to first say that this book is really well written technically – whem I read that the author had won a writing Emmy it made sense.

Beyond the writing this book does a good job of introducing characters, dropping little breadcrumbs for the ultimate twist in the tale. The story moves at a nice pace throughout most of the book but towards the end does ramp up pace to the point where so much happens in the conclusion.

I hate books that you get to the end and it’s a sequel (surprise!) And this doesn’t appear to be one. However, I think I would like to return to this world – perhaps from the perspective of a different (human) character. There is a lot of potential for continuation of the bigger story (although I would like this main character to be a supporting character).

All in all an enjoyable read – I’d rate it a firm 4/5.

Book provided to me in return for an honest review by the publisher through netgalley.

I absolutely loved this book from the first page! It was definitely different from anything I've read lately. It has twists and turns that you don't see coming, but they keep making you want to know what happens next step. I'm legitimately sad that I've read the whole book because now I have to wait for the second book.

The Similars is a must read book that had me hooked from the first chapter. If you are a fan of distopian/science fiction books then this one is for you. I can not wait to read the next one in this series I have to find out what happens to Emma and the Similars especial Levi. What a great new series for all ages.

Yes, this is very good. The characters are well developed. The voice and style is pacy and authentic.

It has enough twisty plot changes to keep me guessing. That said, occasionally the new direction smells a little too convenient: and then and then and then. I wish it would slow down sometimes to explore life in the school, the setting, lessons, relationships beyond those of the lead protagonist.

For me, the real judgement of a book is how I feel once I’ve finished reading it. With “The Similars,” I have many questions but I’m not frustrated. Rather, I’m looking forward to the sequel. There will be one, right?!

However many words there are to describe them: Clones, Copies, Cylons, Doppelgängers, Replicants, Similars, I find this stream of sci-fi to be incredibly fascinating! The very idea that someone, somewhere, even came up with the concept of duplicating DNA is completely mind-boggling, and yet, I find myself inexplicably drawn to stories such as these.

While Clone stories have been around for decades, The Similars brings something I haven’t yet come across in this area, and that is: a likeable and relatable young adult story - particularly the use of interesting, strong, and mature teenaged characters, accessible and appealing science, and portraying the interactions and immersion of clones into the community, not just with ‘regular’ people, but also with their originals. There’s also a lot of heart and soul in it, some might call it humanity.

Additionally, this book manages to capture real occurrences in current society that can be applied to real-life factions and groups of people...
“Have they taught you to fear what you don’t understand?”
“I would hate there being a rally to protest my very existence.”
...and is so very subtle about sending a message about human rights.

I thoroughly enjoyed this enthralling novel, my only negative is that I have to wait what feels an age until the next book in the series is published.

Thank you to Rebecca Hanover, Sourcebooks Fire, and NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The best part of this book was how real it could become. On the surface its about kids at high school, their behaviors, their parents and money. Underneath it has real depth, theres alot of psychology behind the characters actions, thoughts and personalities. This makes it an easy read that really makes you think. Brilliant.

The Similars a fascinating story about clones that reminded me of Your One & Only gets a 3.5 for a promising start.
Emma returns to Darkwood Academy still aching from the death of her best friend Ollie. While everyone else is excited for the new students, Emma doesn't care. So what if clones are coming the school? They won't replace Ollie. But everything changes when Emma meet's Ollie's clone. While her life is in a spin, she must deal with the attack of her roommate and the idea that the clones may just not be here out of the goodness of the administration's heart.

I loved the majority of this book. I was enthralled by the characters and how the story was a parallel of our lives today. I loved the mystery and twists. In fact, I only called one of the two twists! This excites me because I love a good twist.
The only issue I had was the last 50 pages. The story seemed to get bigger than it needed to be and too easy. In fact, the day after I finished the book, my brain wanted to go back and finish the book. This wasn't because I hadn't, but because the ending was really an ending. It tied up nothing. While I have no problem with cliff hangers and unaware questions to propel to the next novel, I was left lacking any closure or clear idea of what was really going on.

“The Similars” is a science fiction novel about a girl who deals with grief after the loss of her best friend, Oliver. Little did she know that she would see a clone version of him in school. The protagonist, Emma, wanted nothing more than to avoid these clones. But because her school seems to be hiding some secrets, she became involved with the clones.

I thought “The Similars” was a plot-twisty sci-fi young adult novel but it didn’t seem unique as what one would have expected. Its side characters weren’t remarkable nor were they relatable. Emma was the only character that drew me in the story and for that reason, I ended up reading the entire book.

The plot twists, in my opinion, did not make the book an exciting page-turner. It was Emma’s determination to seek the truth about her school and the clones that made this book an enjoyable read. While there were moments when I rolled my eyes because I couldn’t agree with the decisions of the protagonist, Emma was a likable character (in general).

My least favorite part had something to do with the development of the romance. I thought the romance wasn’t compelling, nor was there any chemistry between the characters. The enemies to lovers trope had been awkwardly constructed. I’m not sure how to explain this without giving major spoilers away. The gist of it was that the romance was a love at first sight with a bit of “10 Things I Hate About You.” The romance just didn’t seem genuine to me.

Additionally, the NEW scientific technology that was used to tell the backstory of the antagonist seemed to be a lazy way to bring up the motivations of a character. It was like information dump. Besides that, the laughable portion of the novel was when Emma managed to bring along a book with her. I expected her to use an e-reader or other advanced technology for her reading. I was actually confused when this story takes place especially when the characters still had access to physical copies of books. I just wasn’t sure which one had been anachronistic, the book or the technology the the antagonist had created to tell its backstory.

Although the novel was kind of weak in its world building, I’d still be interested in reading the sequel because of its strong main character. I would definitely recommend this book to fans of Orphan Black and especially to teens! “The Similars” is a creative take on the psychology behind how people treat others who are unique (or different) and to examine what it means to be human.



***This review will be posted somewhere between December 17 through 31st at http://bookscoffeeandrepeat.wordpress.com

Darkwood Academy is an elite boarding school that has always been progressive, welcoming students of all races, religions and sexual orientations. When Darkwood Academy opens its doors to six mysterious new students, not everyone is ready to welcome them with open arms. These six students are Similars, part of an illegal cloning experiment, exact DNA copies of their originals, who are also students at the Academy. Emmaline Chance, still mourning the recent death of her best friend Oliver, doesn't care about the new students or the cloning debate until she discovers that one of them, Levi, is Oliver's clone.

The Similars is the exciting first novel in this new YA sci-fi series. This novel is told from the POV of Emmaline Chance, a girl who has suffered from the loss of loved ones, including the recent death of her best friend Oliver. Struggling to cope with his death, she is suddenly faced with dealing with those unresolved emotions towards his clone Levi. Although Levi looks like Oliver Emma knows will never be Oliver and she hates him for that. When unusual things begin to happen at the school Emma must put aside her feelings and work with Levi and his siblings to figure out who is behind the events. I felt like certain plot points, like the Ten, were brought up enough to feel important but I was left feeling unsure as to if it will even tie into the other novels. I also prefer stronger female protagonists but that is just a personal preference. Overall, this was an enjoyable quick read that has potential to be better in the future novels.

I liked this more than I thought. I prejudged it because I don't normally like books set at a boarding school with rich, snobby students but the main characters weren't like that. It is an interesting concept, 6 embryos were stolen from prominent families and they were cloned. The clones are facing a similar situation with illegal immigrants as to what rights they have, what documentation they need and a hostility by some. My high school students would like this book.

I gave this book 4.25 stars. I really enjoyed this book but decided not to give it 4.5 stars because I figured the rest of the series would be even better so I’m leaving room for higher ratings.

This book cut off so suddenly it surprised me. I mean, usually when there is a cliffhanger there is a lead up to that, but for this book, I felt like we were in between huge action scenes and this one just sort of ended.

There is kind of a big plot twist that happens in this book, but it isn’t completely a surprise. If you’re paying attention to what is happening in the novel then you could probably guess what it is pretty easily.

This book isn’t anything partially new to me, but it did bring me back to everything I love about Young Adult. This reminded me of the feelings I had about 5 years ago when I couldn’t stop reading anything and everything YA. There was excitement, plot twists, coming of age problems, even love life drama. It was everything I love in a YA novel.

This story follows Emma, who has just lost her best friend and is returning to her boarding school for the first time since his death during the summer. Emma is raw and understandably shaken after what has happened. We follow her as she tries to make sense of everything that has happened and the incoming of her best friend’s clone.

Overall, I’m generally not a big fan of dystopian, but I feel like this one was in the near enough future that the problems were very parallel to what is happening in today's society. The prejudices shown against the clones are similar to what is happening to people of color and those in the LGBTQ+ communities. I think this novel is really suitable for the times.

This book is written great, and the language flows very well in my opinion. But however, the story isn't as engaging in the end as it was in the start. It lost kind of what dragged it in, but I cannot pinpoint what. I found the ending predictable and the plot-twist was something I figured out very fast, but that does not make it a bad book at all.

I was entertained by this book and thought the twists were great and some were surprising for me.
I did find myself holding my breath in the exciting parts.

I recommend this book.

The premise of the book had me wanting so much more. I wasn't a fan of the writing style or the plot twists that were choreographed ahead of time.

#NetGalley #TheSimilars
What a twisting and unusual novel! The Similars blends dystopian and fanstasy all with great science fiction thrown in. I was pleasantly surpised with the plot, it does have some predicable spots, but overall is pulls the reader into a page turning, quick read. I can't wait to see what the author does with the series.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the E-Arc copy of this novel.

I really enjoyed this book. While the plot at some points was a little predictable the story was good enough that it didn't take away from my enjoyment. There are tons of twists and the characters are very well thought out. This will appeal to lovers of YA and also those who like a good dystopian story. Can't wait to see what happens next!

I started reading the similars and quite enjoyed it. I tought it had a good pace, good character, good story, but as a continued reading, i found myself thinking that the writing was not that good. Even if it was not the best, I kept on reading but the story did not captivate me in the end... I finished it but i would definitly not recommend it to anyone. It sometimes felt like the story was writen by a teenager... as if it was maybe missing some experience... the idea and the storyline was good tought

INITIAL EXCITEMENT & SUMMARY
Clearly I was excited to read this one, because I decided to go for it back in early June! I was stuck in sort of a reading slump because I binge-read too many contemporaries in a row. Usually I need to mix in a few different genres throughout the month so I don’t fully burn out. I knew I needed something sci-fi or paranormal (because reading THE COMPLICATION at one point the previous month reset my burnout too). I loved the idea of clones coming to a school without a lot of explanation and learning why they were so special. It was set sort of in the near-future; everyone has fancy “phones” with digital assistants

STORYTELLING, SETTING, & CHARACTERS
There’s actually a lot to unpack with this book and truthfully I’m not smart enough to do it! There were a lot of correlations to today’s society, where people who are “different” can be ostracized for all the wrong reasons. There are growing hate movements based on leadership today and a lot of that was reflected in this book through clone rights. It was fascinating but didn’t feel like a forced theme to make a bigger picture, if that makes sense? These messages didn’t take me out of the story at all.

Hanover did a really great job of keeping me guessing and keeping me reading. I almost read it all in one sitting but I had to go to sleep when I had 20 minutes left. Literally my eyes kept closing on me, even though I wanted to finish it off! I kept coming up with theories… the best part is that some came true and some didn’t. There were so many secrets and twists that you’d think you figured it out completely when something else would come to light.

The Darkwood boarding school was an awesome setting, but I happen to love those so much. Adding in some of the creepy science fiction elements made me even more hooked. It was fun to see references to New England, since it was in Vermont and they also had Bar Harbor get involved for a minute.

From a character perspective: Emma was a little bland for me (more on that later), but the Similars were fascinating characters. I loved exploring how DNA can make people similar but personalities can be shaped by your environment. There were many reveals about the characters throughout the story, which I loved.

NEGATIVES
I can’t think of a lot of negatives in this one, aside from what I discuss in the ending part below. Emma was a decent enough main character but I didn’t love her or anything. I didn’t feel overly connected to her overall and sometimes she was being a liiiiittle thick. She asked questions where the answers seemed obvious to the reader and I was wondering how she was fifth in her class?? I think she just didn’t WANT to believe certain things when they were right in front of her.

ENDING FEELS
Okay I have a lot of complicated thoughts on the ending. When I read this back in June, there wasn’t an announced sequel anywhere and it ended on a major cliffhanger IMO. This is the kind of story that genuinely needs a second book because there are way too many loose ends. I would say that it KIND OF could end here and it would be MODERATELY okay (except not really)… so I’m waiting on that.

In general though, cliffhanger/sequel questions aside, there were some elements at the end that felt weird to me. It wasn’t bad or anything but I’m not sure – some of the events felt squished in there and done a little too quickly. There was a lot introduced in the last 10-20% of the book that caught me off guard. Again, this is regardless of there being a sequel or not.

TL;DR?
I would say the two comp titles that immediately come to mind are BRAVE NEW GIRL meets THE THOUSANDTH FLOOR. There’s futuristic technology (but not tooooo much), clones, and a lot of secrets. If you’re in the mood for a page-turner that you could read in one sitting, this one should do the trick.

I usually love stories about clones and replicas. Boarding school stories are a hit or miss. Similars started with strong potential but after that I couldn't connect with the story anymore or the characters. I was bored honestly.

Maybe I will try to reread closer to the release date.

Thank you Netgalley for giving me a copy to review. All opinions are my own.

Thank you Net Galley for the free ARC.

Young adult story about the misuse of cloning. The similars, a group of illegal clones, arrive at Darkwood Academy to become students. But is there all there is to it? Some feel they should not be allowed there.