Frankly, I don’t know what to think about this book.

The idea of multiple universes and DNA experiments was amazing. I really loved the different points of view and how different Tati, Ana, Tanya and Tatiana (variations of the same name) were and what each of them had to go through.

The blurb for «Ricochet» was masterfully crafted to attract the attention of Sci-Fi readers, but I don’t know if that was the right move. I really wanted more information about the DNA alterations, about the experiments, about her family, about everything, basically! Maybe, the author was restricted by the page count, but the story needed more details to make it a true Sci-Fi.

I was lucky enough to receive through Netgalley a booked called Ricochet by Kathryn Berla. Ricochet can be described as a Young Adult Scifi. The story tells of 4 girls by the names of Ana, Tatiana, Tanya and Tatyana who all have the same kind of seizures and there may be even more things they have in common but I don't want to spoil anything. What I will say that it took me awhile to get into the story by that was purely due to the fact that I don't normally read these kind of books but i did get into the story and would probably try another scifibook. The only drawback of the book for me is that the ending was just a little flat especially when the last few chapters had quite a bit of danger and intrigue in them. So for this reason I am giving Ricochet 3 Stars

The premise of Ricochet by Kathryn Berla was so intriguing that I didn't hesitate, grabbed the book and started reading straightaway.
There are four points of view, so it took me a bit of time to get used to the four narrators: Tati, Ana, Tanya, and Tatiana. The author clearly put a lot of effort into differentiating their worlds and their voices. In fact, I quickly found myself relating more to one of them than to the others! Two of the protagonists live in the US, having been adopted by American parents, although they do know that their origin is Russian. Overall, their life circumstances are fairly similar and you can concentrate on how the differences came about. The other two are much more connected to Russia. So you can say that the task of following the 4 different stories was slightly reduced by this coupling.
I love the idea of multiverse and how it was developed in this book. The story also touched on teenager-parent relationships, first love, trust issues, friends. At some point the pace became really fast and the story started bearing similarity to an action thriller with lots of chases and narrow escapes. This was the bit where I got confused and started wishing for fewer characters. I'm still not sure about the ending- I think it should have been told from the point of view of another protagonist, the one who was the most attached to the girls' father. The way it was, it felt less emotional, almost detached.
The cover is really beautiful and deserves a special mention. Overall, a quick read with varied characters and a lot of action.
Thank you to NetGalley and Flux for the review copy provided in exchange for an honest opinion.

The synopsis of this book reminds me of the TV show Orphan Black meet multi universe. Really enjoy the premise but at times I got confused with the character story and different storylines even though they have their names on each chapter to tell you who they are. Still confused at the ending.

Ricochet had so much potential that I am very sad to see it go. I wish there had been much more to the plot, much more to the characters, and much more to the story in all. Ricochet confused me several chapters in and I don’t think I ever left that confusion. I unfortunately had to leave this at about 47% DNF because I just could not continue on with the book. There were some bits of the book that were interesting such as when Tatiana wanted to find out more with her DNA and why she was having seizures her whole life but after that it fell flat.

I skipped ahead to the ending to see if there was truthfully anything I was missing by the end and I am very sad to say that there is and was not anything I missed.

Ricochet has a cool premise about a teenager doing an ancestry DNA test, and getting weird results. However, it follows this premise across four narrators who are slightly different versions of the same person. While it sounds awesome in theory, I don't think I have the attention span to continue reading every single thing happening four times.

First of all, for like a quarter of the book I had no clue what was going on, it was all just SO confusing. The whole parallel universes concept was really fascinating, but the way it was all built just didn't do it for me. I feel like two universes would have been enough to keep it all going, the rest were overkill.

I would've enjoyed it a lot more if two of the universes were developed more. So even though it's interesting to think how things affect how our life develops, in this instance it didn't work for me.

I'm late reviewing this because I've been trying to decide what to say. I didn't enjoy it. Too confusing even though I know about the multiverse theory already; I can't imagine trying to read this without knowing. I still don't understand who the other three girls got to their universe, and I didn't understand the ending. It's not badly written, just confusing. Not a good one for me.

Tatyana meets herself, herself and herself in this multiverse crossing adventure.

This wasn't as good as I was hoping, sadly. It took a while to figure out which Tati was which, and I'm still not sure whether one of their fathers somehow got the altered babies across parallell universes, or four of him were doing the exact same experiment at the exact same time.

It wasn't awful, but it wasn't great either.

This book had a lot of promise with a thrilling plot line that seemed super intense and wonderfully imaginative. While I loved the pose for the book I feel like the execution was a little rough. While juggling the 4 different but same characters... It feel extremely matchy matchy. The two American Tatiana's connected and the two Russians ones did. I would have liked to see all the individuals be able to cross over and interact. I feel like it would have given the story more depth and moved it along quicker, I also think that while there were a few differences between worlds you had two sets that were almost identical I wish the author had structured each to be a little less like each other. I think a little more polish could have made a huge difference on this story. Overall it was a decent read that many will enjoy.

Confusing. All 4 of the Tatianas were completely interchangeable. It was in no way clear which lives were which girl's. I was pretty bored because of this; I gave up trying to keep them separate before I even made it halfway.

I really wanted to love this book - I was really excited about the idea of parallel universes and what that could mean. I found the start a lot to take in at once and whilst I understand the reasons behind the way the alternate characters were introduced I found the transitions quite jarring. I wonder whether it would have been more interesting to start with one of the alternates rather than the luckiest version of Tatiana.

Ricochet alternates between the perspectives of four different versions of its central character, Tatiana. I was worried that this would be confusing, but each chapter opens with an alternative name/nickname for her: Tati, Ana, Tanya, and Tatyana, and always in this order. The premise itself is interesting, as well as how Berla carried it out, splitting off Tatiana’s different life circumstances in each universe: two in which she gets adopted by American parents, and multiple in which either one or both of her birth parents is/are dead. There’s also the subtle difference in her character for each of these universes. The plot itself is fast-paced, as the girls uncover the reason behind their ability to cross over into their own parallel worlds. Despite the pulsing across parallel universes, Berla manages to keep her world and characters relatively contained, so there isn’t an overload of names and characters in different lifetimes.

Overall, it was a very fun and gripping read; one of those page turners that you don’t want to put down just because you need to know what happens next. And yet, it’s light reading, nothing too heavy or depressing. I’ll admit I was a little disappointed at how easily things got resolved in the final confrontation scene between the different versions of Tatiana and that one version of their father.

This book was interesting once I finally sort of figured out the confusing plot. I really liked the characters they were all really cool. This book is definitely different and worth reading for sure. I was never bored while reading this book I can tell you that. It's kind of difficult to explain this book, so you need to just read it!

Thank you, NetGalley and Flux for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

In Kathryn Berla's sci-fi adventure, we first meet Tati, a girl who is in love with her best girlfriend, has a cool set of parents, and is working on a genetics project for school that requires her to submit a saliva sample to a company that will analyze her DNA. Tati is adopted, and wants to know more about her birth family. But her sample comes back as "inconclusive," and sets off a series of events that at first confuse the reader, but when the storylines come together, it is an interesting turn of events.

Berla explores the concepts of string theory, or parallel universes, through the viewpoints of four versions of Tati - Tati, Ana, Tanya, and Tatyana. Their father is a scientist who messed with DNA at the birth of his daughter, creating four versions who all lived in different universes.

Though not a fan of books with multiple viewpoints, and it took me almost half the book to figure out what was going on, it was an interesting premise. If you're a fan of sci-fi and mulitverses, Ricochet might be right up your alley.

This was my first book read by this author. It is sci-fi and geared towards middle school age and up.

I really enjoyed this book and the multiple points of view. The story was orginial and captivating. The twists and turns really added to the overall plot. The characters were well thought out and multi-dimensional. They were relatable and likeable.

This book was well written and perfectly paced. It was engaging and a quick and easy read. Fans of YA sci-fi will gobble up this story.

I am always intrigued by books which use a multiverse type theory, so when I read the description of this one I thought it sounded like something I would really enjoy. The book opens with Tati, one of four narrators, each of which is a different version of the same girl. Tati is a happy, intelligent teenage girl living in the USA with her adoptive parents, When she and her girlfriend decide to do a DNA test as part of a school project, her results are strangely inconclusive and this sets her on a path to try to discover more about her past, and whether that can explain the strange seizure like episodes she has been experiencing, Ana is a more reserved version of Tati, one who has yet to strike up the courage to approach the girl she likes. Tanya is living in Germany with her controlling mother, and in hiding from her father, while Tatyana is living a life of luxury with her scientist father. It soon emerges that all four girls in their parallel universes, are the result of a science experiment, and they begin to ricochet between their different lives with dramatic consequences.
I loved the central premise of the book, but I found the execution lacking in some areas. I often lost track of which girl and timeline I was following, but I understand that this is a risk when having four such similar versions of the same character. The pacing started out fine but I found the ending pretty rushed. I did like the different versions of the Tatiana character but wish some more development had gone into the character of her father, as someone who was supposed to be the villain of the piece he felt more like a caricature than a well developed believable character.

Tati, Ana, Tanya, and Tatyana all suffer from unexplained seizures that don't produce brainwaves that would indicate epilepsy. During their seizures, a tunnel opens up, which they come to discover leads to parallel universes. The four women learn that they are a version of each other inhabiting their universes, each making different choices that have led them to who they currently are. When they find out that their father is to blame, they seek to free themselves from his influence and carve out a meaningful life that doesn't involve being a science experiment.

This was a short, fun, and compelling read. The mystery of their existence was slowly uncovered with each version figuring out different pieces and working to assemble the secrets together. I also appreciated the LGBT representation in the novel. Much of the story was plot driven, so it's difficult to discuss the finer points without giving away any of the twists, particularly those that occur in the final few chapters.

Overall, I found the ending to be satisfying and one that I didn't predict as Kathryn Berla worked to bring all the threads together.

This is a hard book to rate. Because on one hand I absolutely ADORE the idea, the worldbuilding. I mean, different realities! The same girl growing up in vastly different circumstances and thus becoming totally different people! What's not to love! (Also I'm very much a fan of the idea that a person's sexuality wouldn't change depending on their upbringing.)

But then there's the writing. And the style is just so awkward? Feels so very unnatural? There's just no way to truly connect to any of the characters (technically, the same character!) since the style doesn't let you forget for a single second that you're reading a book. It's a waste of potential.

So in the end I can't even say that this is a decent book, because the style killed any of the fun I could have with it!

3.5 stars

I went into this book not really knowing what it was about and I was pleasantly surprised. At first I wasn't sure what was going on, but once I got the gist of it, it was really good.

Basically, we're following a teen girl who suffers from seizures, but of course there's always more to it than that. This story talks about parallel universes and how even just a small change can alter everything. We get to see how different these alternate realities are but also how truly connected they are.

My problem with this book is that it felt like it was setting up towards something bigger but the ending kind of wrapped up to quickly for me. I honestly thought that it was just setting up for a sequel or something, but it just ended very abruptly.

Other that than I'd really recommend this book!