The Similars Review| Clones Are Intense…

Hi friends! I’m back with another review, and let me tell you: I’ve got some mixed feelings on this. But first of all, thank you so much Sourcebooks Fire for providing me with an e-ARC via Edelweiss! *cracks knuckles* let’s do this thing!

3 Darkwood Academies

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

Publication Date*: January 1, 2019

When six clones join Emmaline’s prestigious boarding school, she must confront the heartbreak of seeing her dead best friend’s face each day in class.

The Similars are all anyone can talk about at the elite Darkwood Academy. Who are these six clones? What are the odds that all of them would be Darkwood students? Who is the madman who broke the law to create them? Emma couldn’t care less. Her best friend, Oliver, died over the summer and all she can think about is how to get through her junior year without him. Then she comes face-to-heartbreaking-face with Levi—Oliver’s exact DNA replica and one of the Similars.

Emma wants nothing to do with the Similars, but she keeps getting pulled deeper and deeper into their clique, uncovering dark truths about the clones and her prestigious school along the way. But no one can be trusted…not even the boy she is falling for who has Oliver’s face.

*This was written in August so I sincerely apologize in advance if something came up and I was unable to change the date (code for: LOL she totally forgot)

I was totally drawn in by the premise because um clones? Do we really need one hundred more me’s walking around (the answer is always yes). That’s super unique and more people should write books about this subject. I felt that the author truly did an incredible job of showing the prejudice around clones, and by doing that showed just how messed-up our society actually is.  Especially when it comes to people who are different.

This book was REALLY addicting (not quite popcorn level but up there with cookies) and I adore Rebecca Hanover’s writing style! It’s simplistic and gets the point across without feeling too overdone. I was always easily pulled into the story, and could picture everything effortlessly.

And hey! Her plot twists were actually amazing! She sets things up for some great reveals. I didn’t full-on gasp or die (as I often do) but I was surprised and sometimes that’s all you can ask for.

NOW FOR THE PROBLEMS. If you know me, you know that my least-favorite-thing-of-ever (besides chicken pot pie and forced socializing)  is insta-love. And I’m sorry to say that I didn’t see any sparks between the main character and the love interest. I mean, they would go literal weeks without talking to each other! I can’t really say much more because #spoilers but I felt that it wasn’t great.

I think my other issue with the romance stems from the fact that I still don’t really know the love interest. We’re told about his personality and sometimes we see flickers of it but in the end, I feel like I don’t really know him. Maybe it’s just me???

I felt that the plot was a bit convenient sometimes too. I HAVE SO MANY MIXED FEELINGS AHHHHHHHHH.

Summary

I don’t know if this review was helpful at all but I’ll say that I enjoyed my time reading it yet at the same time, there was a lot of issues. I think I’ll definitely pick up the sequel, because I’m actually quite excited to see where the story goes, and how everything plays out! Tell me your feelings on this book if you’ve read it, or if you want to read it, or if you’ve ever read a book with clones!