83. Someone Else's Life by Katie Dale

Someone Else's Life by Katie Dale
Published March 2012 by Simon & Schuster

From the publisher:
How can you face your future when your past it a lie?
When Rosie Kenning's mother, Trudie, dies from Huntington's disease, her whole world falls apart. Not only does Rosie desperately miss her mum, but now she has to face the fact that she could have inherited the fatal illness herself. Until she discovers that Trudie wasn't her biological mother at all ... Rosie is stunned. Can this be true? Is she grieving for a mother who wasn't even hers to lose? And if Trudie wasn't her mother, who is?

This is like a Jodi Picoult novels for teens. It’s full of drama and romance with a number of twists and turns thrown in along the way.  Just when you think you know where the story is going…it twists.

Rosie’s mother has just died, from Huntington's disease.  While she id deliberating as to whether she should have the test to see if she too carries the Huntington’s gene, her mother’s lifelong friend and neighbour says she doesn’t need the test, because Trudie wasn’t her mother.

I won’t give too much away (and there’s a lot to give away), but Rosie sets out on a journey to the US to find her real mother, and that’s when things start to get more complicated.  She finds more family than she bargained for and Rosie has to make a difficult decision that could ruin the lives of the family she has just met.

With all of this drama unfolding the essence of this story is family.  It asks the question, what is family?  Family is simply made up of the people in your life who love you, whether they have your DNA or not.  

Who will like this book:  Girls age 15+ 
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