The Ripple Effect

Published: May 26th, 2011

Rippler

By: Cidney Swanson

Williams Press

ISBN-13: 9780983562108

Samantha Ruiz has a freak gene that turns her invisible. She can’t control it, and it’s getting worse. Afraid of becoming a lab-rat, Sam keeps her ability secret, until fellow runner Will Baker sees her vanish into thin air. Will promises secrecy and help, and Sam begins to fall in love.

Together, the two discover there are worse things than being a scientific curiosity. Someone’s been killing people who possess Sam's gene. A mysterious man from France sends letters that offer hope for safety, but also reveal a sinister connection with Nazi experiments.

The more time Sam spends with Will, the less she can imagine life without him. When Sam uncovers secrets from her past, she must choose between keeping Will in her life or keeping Will safe.

Review

   Fifteen year old Sam has always been soothed and comforted by water since her earliest memories.  That turns out not to be such a good thing when she turns invisible on her cross-country team's canoe trip - while she's in the canoe with the other kids.  This starts off an odyssey of learning why she is able to turn invisible and what it means for her future happiness and safety.  The person to take the journey with her is her neighbor Will Baker who happened to see her vanish from the canoe and covered for her with the coach.  Because he knew what her genetic mutation is called and he knew more about it than she ever dreamed possible.  It turns out Will's sister Mickie was studying under a man named Professor Pfeffer, who was an expert on Rippler Syndrome, which is an offshoot of a numbness disease (Helmann's) that Will and Mickie's Dad has.  Then the Professor disappeared without a trace and the people studying Rippler's and even just Helmann's began getting killed off in what looked like accidents, but weren't.  And the only clues they really have are in a journal full of sick experiments in a indecipherable language from World War II.  Will and Sam will need all the help they can get to save one another from the danger their abilities present to their very existences while trying to figure out what really happened in the accident that killed Sam's Mom, life, friendship, and their feelings for one another.  I was truly invested in this book!  Other reviews that I've read have complained that there isn't enough action and the pacing isn't that great.  I had NONE of these problems.  I LOVED the characters, the plot and the cliffhanger at the end!  I absolutely cannot wait to read the next book, Chameleon.  The journal entries add a sadistic twist to everything you've ever heard about Nazi medical experiments and worked it into the plot in a chilling way.  Cidney's writing style read like the characters were everyday people just telling the readers about themselves.  I honestly can say that I really liked it from beginning to end.  This book is highly recommended to fans of X-Men, YA paranormal fiction and fantasy. 

VERDICT: 5/5  Stars

Book #7 of Challenge COMPLETE

*I received an Advanced Reading E-book Copy from the author herself, via LibraryThing.  No money was exchanged for this review. The publication date of this book was May 26th, 2011.*

From A-List Flop to A-List Hot

Expected Publication: July 10th, 2012
Don't You Wish
By: Roxanne St. Clair
Delacorte Books for Young Readers
ISBN-13: 9780385741569


When plain and unpopular Annie Nutter gets zapped by one of her dad's whacked-out inventions, she lands in a parallel universe where her life becomes picture-perfect. Now she's Ayla Monroe, daughter of the same mother but a different father—and she's the gorgeous, rich queen bee of her high school.

In this universe, Ayla lives in glitzy Miami instead of dreary Pittsburgh and has beaucoup bucks, courtesy of her billionaire—if usually absent—father. Her friends hit the clubs, party backstage at concerts, and take risks that are exhilirating . . . and illegal. Here she's got a date to lose her V-card with the hottest guy she's ever seen.

But on the insde, Ayla is still Annie.

So when she's offered the chance to leave the dream life and head home to Pittsburgh, will she take it?

The choice isn't as simple as you think.

Review

   Annie Nutter has what she thinks is a horrible life.  Her Father works at a crappy job while trying to invent things that never work, her Mother is miserable living in their run-down, trashy house and she has an obnoxious little brother.  Then  one day the most popular boy in school makes a laughingstock of her on the schoolbus, her Mom sees the house she would've had is she's married her old boyfriend Jim Monroe, and her parents have a huge blowout over her Dad's latest crazy invention that shows your ideal face/body.  Annie is somehow transported by that messed up invention into a parallel universe where her Mom married Jim Monroe instead of Mel Nutter and she's popular, gorgeous, bitchy Ayla Monroe living in Miami instead of Pittsburgh.  Annie enjoys the designer clothes, the servants, the beautiful house and everything that goes with it.  Except for the fact that her parents are on the verge of divorce because of her Dad's infidelity, her Mom and her brother Trent hate her, plus the entire school's afraid of her because Ayla ruled with an iron fist.  Annie decides to start living the way she wants to, ditching her ass of a popular boyfriend on the night she was supposed to be de-virginized and becoming friends, more later on, with a poor scholarship student Charlie.  Him and his sister Missy are reasons why Annie wants to stay and live Ayla's life even though it's pretty superficial and miserable.  But he is working on a way to send her back to her life as Annie Nutter.  Can they change things for the better at all before she leaves?  Or will she stay and become Ayla for good.  This book was an extremely fun story and I had a wonderful time reading it.  Annie's life as an invisible, unpopular girl was relatable and she was a fairly strong character.  Also, who has honestly NEVER ONCE imagined the 'what-ifs' of their life?  I would recommend this to anyone who wants a quick, sweet read that has a lot of heart and some laughs. 

VERDICT:  4/5  Stars

*I received an Advanced Reading E-book Copy from the publisher, via NetGalley. No money was exchanged for this review.  The expected publication of this book is July 10th, 2012.*