Member Reviews
I unfortunately could not get into this book. I made it 20% of the way through and had to give up. I found myself easily confused about what was happening and which character we were on at that time.
Chloe was raised knowing she was adopted at 3 but she has no idea who her biological parents are. She loves her parents but they are now divorced and the bickering is becoming too much for her. Her mother is always picking fights with her father and now her mom is growing deeper in depression and not doing much about it.
Cash was in the foster system for 3 years before he found a good home, but scared of rejection he doesn't want to let his foster parents in. When he meets Chloe he's shocked in recognition. This has to be his foster parents missing daughter! But is she hanging around for nefarious reasons or is there something more?
There were some romance elements between Cash and Chloe and then there's the mystery aspect with Chloe's adoption and looking exactly like the Fuller's missing daughter. This was a fun YA read that gave us some serious social issues to think about such as adoption, foster care, and divorce. While Cash didn't have it truly awful in foster care, it was nice that the author touched on it. I was hoping for a bit more with the epilogue but overall it was a good read.
Unfortunately this one just wasn’t for me. The premise sounds quite good but upon reading it I think In Another Life felt like it was geared toward a younger audience. I found the main character unbearably, unrealistically childish for her age & I found it difficult to continue on with the story because her interactions with others were just so grating. I suppose this was to make the story more angsty; it just made it more difficult to read.
In Another Life by C.C. Hunter is a young adult thriller in which a teenager questions her adoption. Chloe was adopted as a toddler and has very few memories before her parents adopted her. She’s had a wonderful childhood ever since but always felt a bit of a loss in her life anyway.
Cash has been in and out of foster homes for years but has found a good home with a loving couple that honestly care for him. That couple had suffered a loss when their biological daughter was kidnapped. With a composite sketch of what the girl would now look like Cash is sure its Chloe.
In Another Life was a fairly quick moving tale. The author apparently has written a few romance books previously and it’s noticeable in the fact this seemed a little light on the mystery side and more about the relationship with Cash and Chloe. I wouldn’t say that’s necessarily bad but I did expect more suspense than just being led to the conclusion. Overall I rated this one at 3 1/2 stars and enjoyed the fast paced read.
I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.
Uhhh this was a giant no for me.
In Another Life tells the story of Chloe, a teenager who was adopted just short of her third birthday. Chloe’s parents have recently divorced and her mother has picked up and moved herself and Chloe to the town of Joyful, Texas. What happens from there is anything but joyful. Chloe is immediately noticed by a boy named Cash who can’t stop staring at her because she looks exactly like the daughter of his foster parents who was kidnapped just short of her third birthday. Dun dun duuuun… Could Chloe actually be this long lost child? Together Chloe and Cash set out to uncover the mystery of Chloe’s true parentage.
Problem number one with this book is that it is overly dramatic for my taste. Characters are always “spiting” or “yelling” things at each other instead of speaking in any kind of rational manner, and Chloe’s mother is the biggest offender. Having just survived cancer in the wake of her divorce, she rightly has reasons to be angry at the world, but the way she handles that anger is over the top and takes away from Chloe’s story. I was just waiting for one of the frequent point of view changes to suddenly be Chloe’s mother, although I’m sure that would have only consisted of her sitting angrily somewhere spouting about how much she hates her ex-husband and his “whore” girlfriend. She sure did enough of it in her scenes with Chloe.
And then problem number two. The constant POV changes drove me crazy. Maybe the formatting was just off in the ARC I read, but there was no indication that the POV was changing other than Chloe’s was in first person and Cash’s was in third. And then randomly toward the end there was a sudden addition of another third person POV for the shady guys who worked at the adoption agency that handled Chloe’s case. It was just all extremely messy, and I’m pretty sure the only reason one character got a first person POV and the other got third was because if they were both in first, it would be impossible to tell them apart. There is some character development, probably more so for Cash because we get a back-story about how awful his father was and how he used to make Cash help him run cons before he died and Cash ended up in foster care.
The third problem is the mystery/thriller aspect that the marketing team seems to be going with. I guess there’s some level of mystery with the idea that Chloe may be someone’s long lost daughter, but it’s pretty easy to see early on what the answer to that question is, and instead of any actual sleuthing, Chloe and Cash spend most of their time either making out or fighting. They hardly dig up any info, making the entire book even more frustrating.
This book might appeal to somebody, but for me it was just overly sloppy and too dramatic.
*Thank you to Wednesday Books and Netgalley for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review.*
I was intrigued by CC Hunter's novel from the description that Chloe might be Emily Fuller, a girl kidnapped fifteen years ago. I was a huge fan of The Face on the Milk Carton growing up, so I was hoping that this would be just as good. This was a quick read that I very much enjoyed. Chloe meets Cash who is the Fuller's foster son, and he is shocked at how much she looks like their missing daughter. The pair fall in love and decide to solve the mystery of Chloe's identity. Their journey left me on the edge of my seat as I wondered what was going on and what would happen to this pair.
Thank you net galley for this ARC
I liked this book! Good plot and characters! Sometimes predictable but still good! Thank you netgalley for the free arc in exchange for Ann honest review!
Short and Sweet
When Chloe was three years old she was adopted and became Chloe Holden and she's had a pretty good life. Fourteen years later Chloe's parents are separated, she's left her friends behind and her mother has moved them to Joyful, Texas. Now Chloe is the new girl in school and she has met Cash Colton. Cash takes an interest in Chloe because she looks like the daughter his foster parents lost. Now Chloe's past before the adoption is starting to haunt her and she wants the details to her adoption, the more Chloe learns about her adoption she starts to realize something isn't right.
Characters
Chloe: Chloe is just trying to live life as normally as she can. Her mother is in remission and she has to be the parent to her mother and make sure she's okay. Chloe also has a lot of resentment towards her father because she feels like her just left her and her mother. Anyway I thought Chloe was an okay character she cares a lot about the people closest to her. Chloe was indecisive she wanted to find out more about the adoption but she would change her mind, or if she did end up being the kidnapped child she wasn't sure if she wanted the truth to come out.
Cash: Cash has had a hard life, his dad would involve Cash in his criminal activities, this has obviously scarred Cash and has made him feel like he's had to prove everyone wrong and prove that he's not his dad. Cash is really hard on himself. Thinking back Cash was also an okay character he could have been better, I didn't really like how he treated the Fullers they just really wanted to involve him in their family but sometimes he was just so short with them and would leave when they tried to have a conversation with him.
Romance
Chloe and Cash: So it would seem like the main reason that these two got together was because Cash was trying to figure out if Chloe was actually Emily, but he didn't drop that bombshell on her until later so I suppose that they had feelings for each other. They did spend a lot of time together. It was a an instalove thing and they did say I love you and they didn't even know each other for that long.
My Thoughts
~ We get to read from both Chloe and Cash's POVs, I didn't have a favorite one to read from I feel like both were okay and both had their flaws. Chloe had a lot of drama surrounding her parents and Cash was obsessed with finding out about Chloe and like I said I didn't like his interactions with the Fullers.
~ Cash recognizes Chloe from an age progression photo that his foster parents had because they never gave up hope and at first he thinks Chloe is trying to scam them but he learns that she has no idea that she could have been kidnapped.
~ More about Chloe and her parents. Chloe's mom is depressed and is in a funk and is also very bitter she talks a lot of trash about Chloe's dad. Because Chloe is around her mom so much she also gets annoyed when thinking about her dad and will also start trash talking him but to his face. This all was a little too much for me this happened a lot in the book there was just so much bitterness when it came to her parents.
~ Chloe befriends her neighbor Lindsay. I loved Lindsay she was a good friend and was there for Chloe and was someone she could go to talk to I honestly wish there was more of her in the book.
~ So about 60% through the book that's when things start to go down. Chloe and Cash are learning more about her past and things start to get more suspenseful. We also get a new POV and this time its the culprit.
~ I could not stand the culprit I thought he was too impulsive and paranoid. The culprit is one of those people who has a gun and shoots it but not because they needs to but just because they have a gun. The culprit was honestly so annoying I couldn't stand it.
~ I wanted more from the ending I just felt like there could have been more surrounding the culprit and the adoption or kidnapping but everything just ended so quickly and I didn't like it.
Overall
In Another Life wasn't what I was expecting it to be I thought there would be more of a mystery aspect to it but there wasn't much it was more like how did this happen. I think the book could have been better, the ending wasn't that great either everything was wrapped up but I was just left wanting more. I love C.C. Hunter and her books but this one isn't one I would say I loved.
This was a decent YA novel with a little flavor of a mystery woven in. This was the first book I have read by this author but I plan on checking out more of her books.
In Another Life is my first C.C. Hunter book but it is certainly not my last. In Another Life highlights Chloe and the shocking information regarding her adoption. It drew me in from the initial chance meeting between Chloe and Cash.
I enjoyed the romance aspect between the main characters. It added to the suspense for me. If the information about Chloe ends up being true, how with this affect her and Cash’s relationship?!
Overall, the story was a bit predictable but it is still fives stars for me. I couldn’t put it down and finished it in about a day.
I thought ths book was pretty decent. It was a quick read and something I didn’t hate. I thought the romance was cute and the mystery aspect of it was cool, but I feel that the adoption process and illegality of it got a tiny bit complicated. Regardless I think this was a nice afternoon read and one I don’t regret.
Chloe and her parents have just moved to a new town. Her first week there she meets a boy who acts as though her recognizes her. His negative behavior towards her is a puzzle. She discovers that she looks like the little girl his foster parents lost many years ago. He fears that she is someone who will pretend to be the long lost daughter. Chloe has always known that she was adopted and her parents are very supportive of her. She is compelled to investigate the circumstances surrounding her adoption as much as she fears what she may discover.
This was definitely different than Hunter's Shadow Falls series.
I enjoyed it as it was fast paced and unpredictable. I really didn't know what was going to happen next and I wanted to keep reading. I felt sympathy for the characters which means they were developed well. I'm glad I read In Another Life.
My Review: When I first started reading this one I found myself pulled into the story. I will have to see if some of this comes up in the finished copy so please be advised that I am saying this via an ARC. So one major issue I had with this one was that early on Cash (yes that is his name) talks about having one of those DNA test things from like Ancestry.com and then that's it. Its never mentioned after that. I thought it was a little weird and well kind of stupid to bring it up if nothing came of it.
The entire story about a girl who was adopted but might have been kidnapped was great. It had danger and mystery, a little romance, and a lot of heart. But I kind of wished that a little of it would have been cleaned up just a little more than what it was. My ARC of this book is 336 pages and I think this could have been cut down by say 50-75 pages give or take. Towards the middle parts when they are in the thick of the mystery of finding out for sure if Chole had been kidnapped it began to drag a lot. So that was kind of disappointing as I think this is the first book by this author that I didn't flat out a scream from the rooftops loved. I mean don't get me wrong I did LOVE it but as it sits it wasn't the 5 stars read I was hoping for.
So all in all this book had two main characters it was told in alternating POV of them then one other POV towards the middle-end parts. I won't tell you who that one is since I don't want to spoil anything. I loved Chloe and me really kind of wanted to bend Cash over my knee and bust his butt. (not in a sexual way btw but as a parent). I really wished that this book would have had a little more of him coming to terms with who he was and the issues he harbored against his past. The book pretty much takes like three paragraphs and does that but it would have been nice to really see him talk with his foster parents and really come to terms with his anger and guilt. Another thing I wished would have really happened which I guess it kind of did but not how I really wanted it to. Chloe in this is pretty much the parent. Her mom is going downhill, she is getting over Cancer (which was hard to read about since my mom is doing the same thing), she is going through a divorce from her husband cheating on her and of course, she is just not doing well. I would have liked to see Chole to break a few eggs as she said and rip into her mom about her being the child and her being the mom. She did yell at her about taking pills which I thought was great. But I wish they would have had a real conversation about what was going on. For Chole's dad, I think his side of the story worked well. I was kind of sad of one turn in the story that although was ok I was really hoping that a certain purchase was going to be him trying to win Chole's mom back. But alas it was not meant to be. Last but not least Cash's foster parents were great we got to learn a little about them etc. I don't really have anything to say about them.
I do have to say that I loved that parents were actually in the story and not just one but two full sets of mom and dad!! I mean YES PLEASE!!
The romance in this one was light but deep. I really loved the epilogue we got at the end. Although this two fall in love early I didn't feel like it was insta-love I felt like they had spent time together and bonded. So that was wonderful.
So the mystery of wither or not Chole had been kidnapped. This I have to say got me going at first. Towards the end of the book, you learn if it was one way or another and the secret is out of the bag. I kind of wished that the author would have omitted those parts out since it took the mystery out of the story from then on. You know the truth and that's that. Although it became somewhat predictable I still enjoyed getting to that part and learning the truth.
At the end of this one, I kind of wished that this would have centered around Chole finding out the truth sooner then them dealing with the outcome of that truth. Then the danger towards the end wouldn't have felt so rushed and more could have happened. With Chole and her family dealing with emotions etc. As well as Cash and Chole learning how to deal with their romance. And Cash with his issues.
Go Into This One Knowing: Child Kidnapping, LGBT in passing, Child Abuse, Adoption, Romance
We all know that I adore C.C. Hunter, so me giving this three stars feels heartbreaking. I was so hyped for this book after reading the synopsis. Unfortunately, some of the characters made parts of this book unenjoyable.
Let’s first start off with how I love the fact that C.C. Hunter always talks about hard subjects. Heart of Mine had to deal with heart transplants, this one has to deal with adoptions and possible kidnappings. She always mixes a contemporary with some topics that are not easy to read about.
The romance here was very cute and sweet. Chloe and Cash both had been through some things that made them who they were today. They were making each other realize that your past doesn’t define you and you can make your future whatever you want it to be. I loved them together!
What really dragged this book down for me was Chloe’s parents, especially her mom. Their storyline was almost overpowering Chloe’s. Her mother worked my nerves like no other. I get that she had just beat cancer and might not be in a good headspace, but some of her actions were uncalled for. I’m not saying that the dad’s innocent because trust me, he’s still a dog for what he did but her mother was really a piece of work. My biggest issue was that her mother’s mental state was never really addressed. Chloe was the parent to her mother it seems, she grew up to take care of her. She reminded her to feed herself and listen to her go on about her father.
For the most part, this reads like a contemporary, but we also had some mystery involved. While I’m not a big mystery reader but this one really kept me on my toes! I was hooked on every clue that we were given until the big finale.
While I did have some issues with it, I still enjoyed the romance and the mystery aspect of the book. C.C. will always be a favorite author of mine so I can’t wait to see what she releases next!
**review will be posted to blog on blog tour date**
In Another Life by C.C. Hunter is the story of teenager Chloe. Chloe knows that she was adopted and always wondered why her birth parents gave her for adoption when she was three years old. She has horrifying flashbacks of a time when she was a child, and someone is telling her that her parents no longer love her. After her parents' divorce and she moves with her mom in her late grandparents’ home where she meets Cash. Cash is convinced that Chloe is the long-lost daughter of his foster parents and is determined to prove it. Little do they know that looking into the past can be a dangerous business.
This book is entertaining and full of emotions. I would not recommend it to young teens as it has a sexual component. It is an easy read with all the ups and downs of teenage passions.
Thank you St. Martin’s Press for sending me an advanced copy of In Another Life by C.C. Hunter and for including me in the blog tour.
In Another Life was a strange ride from beginning to end. Despite having an intriguing storyline, the plot played out predictably, the characters oddly mishandled, and the dialogue was very often stilted or outrageous. While I still somewhat enjoyed the book, and was able to stay focused and vaguely interested from beginning to end, I can't really say I'd recommend this one.
Chloe Holden is a nearly eighteen year old girl, raised with the knowledge she was adopted at the age of nearly three. Because of her parents' separation, she and her mother have just recently moved to Joyful, Texas. Her mother is recovering from breast cancer, and Chloe is trying to steadily uphold the parental role in that relationship as her mother (whose name we don't know until the very, very end of the book) is not dealing well with that and the separation.
Cash Colton (yes, that's his name) is a nearly eighteen year old foster kid who has been living with a family for a short while...I want to say three years), and in the foster system since he was eleven. His father was a con man who involved Cash in his cons, even forcing Cash at one point to pretend to have cancer and at another to pose as a missing child. So, when Chloe accidentally and literally runs into him (more on that in a bit), and he recognizes her as a lookalike for the missing child of his foster family, he's suspicious and angry. After some rudimentary online sleuthing, some borderline stalker level driving by her house, and some illegal peeking into her school files, Cash and Chloe strike up an unlikely friendship.
She has witnessed him stand up against another kid being bullied, and she throws in her eyewitness account. He has let the air out of her tires to make sure he can be around to offer her help and question her to make sure her intentions aren't nefarious attempts at extorting money from the foster family. Once Cash realizes she is a real person, and not a young woman prepping to pose as the long lost Emily Fuller, you see a better version of him, but it's hard to forget this introduction. These two sides of Cash never seem to properly meld together to be the same guy, even when he does some legally questionable stuff to help Chloe later on, it still feels like a different guy and not just a different side to Cash.
In some ways, Chloe felt surprisingly fleshed out—in spite of the often strange and stilted dialogue and narration—and I think part of that is because she was written from first person, while Cash was written from third. Although I will say, Hunter dove in and out of Continuous Present and Simple Present tenses, and while it did add some variety to the demanding nature of present tense, her choices to often have choppy sentences didn't help elevate the writing style any more. My main issue with Chloe was how often her breasts were gratuitously and oddly referenced.
When she first meets him, Chloe has literally just run into Cash as he exited a convenience store with a slushy. A red slushy. Which (of course) was spilled on her white sandals as a result. We are told the impact with reference to her breasts in a strange and out of place manner.
"Eyes still down, I yank open the door, bolt inside the store, and smack right into someone. Like, my boobs smash against someone's chest."
Somehow, according to the narration, Chloe stayed pressed up against him. (I don't think either of them was wearing flypaper?) And when she stepped backwards it was oddly referencing not only her breasts, but her cup size.
"I swallow the lump in my throat and jerk back, removing my B cup boobs from some guy's chest."
And that was just in the first 5% of the book. More references occur throughout the book, none of which are necessary to the story or even the moment with the exception of a couple during a few intimate scenes.
On top of that, I'm also trucking along, reading this book, when—around the 50-60% point—I'm suddenly handed two more narrators. Two cardboard narrators, one of whom is so villainous it's laughable...aside from his own cringy references to Chloe's body. It is around that point in the book where there's not much left to the actual story, and it's showing.
I do like how the adoption and fostering were presented in this book—aside from the part of the plot where you question the possibility that Chloe's parents orchestrated a kidnapping fifteen years before. Cash's current foster family was presented in a positive and loving way, as was Chloe's relationship with her parents and her childhood growing up with them.
Honestly though, this felt exactly like those made-for-television movies from the 80's where they are based on true stories that featured heavily in the news and viewers apparently want something like an extended reenactment with added fluff for filling a two hour slot. Even going so far as to make that reference in the actual book by one of the characters (with a reference to the Movie of the Week) does not make up for it here.
This is the second book I have read by C.C. Hunter. I am a fan! The odd thing is the two books I have read are what I would consider teen fiction and I haven’t been a teen for a long time. In Another Life is the story of Chloe and Cash who are the new kids in school. Both are dealing with family problems and become involved in each other’s life. Cash is the foster kid who suspects Chloe is not who she thinks she is. Chloe is dealing with divorced parents and a mother recovering from cancer. She doesn’t need any more drama but the attraction she has to Cash inevitably leads to trouble. In Another Life has so many twists and turns it’s hard to put the book down. Hunter has a way of adding to the plot at just the right moment. The good and the bad weave together to create an exciting story that keeps the reader enthralled.
I voluntarily received a copy of this book from Netgalley.
This book was engaging enough. I read it in a couple of sittings. I also want to add the disclaimer that I read the ARC and it’s possible some of my issues will be fixed in the final version. The formatting was a problem as there was no indication of a change in POV – and as there were several POV characters, this did frequently pull me out of the story.
I was intrigued by the premise of this book – I knew that illegal adoptions happened but didn’t really know anything about them. The idea of someone growing up in a happy adoptive family only to discover there is another family somewhere missing them and hoping they might one day return is a really great premise for a novel.
The way the book is structured meant that we knew more about the mystery than the characters did and in some ways, I felt that lessened the stakes too soon. We knew who the bad guys were and figured they would probably get their comeuppance, so there wasn’t as much mystery as there might have been.
I thought Chloe was a very well-written character. She’s got a lot goinig on – her parents’ divorce, her mother up and moving her to a different city, and now a strange guy claiming she’s trying to con his foster parents by pretending to be their long-lost daughter. I did think the romance betwee her and Cash happened a little fast, but I guess that could just be because I’m a sucker for a slow-burn. I did like the fact that when it was revealed that Chloe had been kidnapped, she still acknowledged her adoptive parents as mum and dad, even as that upset her birth parents.
Cash frustrated me a bit with his absolute refusal to accept any help from his foster parents. I got that he didn’t think he deserved it, but he just went on and on and there never seemed to be an arc there. There are several villains of the piece and to be honest, I got them all a bit confused.
All that being said, I did find this book an engaging read and I think it was a good break after I’d read a tonne of fantasy.
(Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for a gratis copy of the book in exchange for an honest review)
I've found that I can't go wrong by reading C.C. Hunter, and that holds true for In Another Life.
As always, I was drawn in by C.C. Hunter's writing and the characters she creates. In Another Life deals with relatable topics and issues people face: divorce, cancer, adoption, depression, familial strife, etc. Add in some romance and a little mystery and intrigue, and it easily kept my attention throughout.
***I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advance Reader Copy generously provided by the publisher via NetGalley.***