Publication Date: January 21st, 2014
Genre: YA Mystery/Thriller
Publisher: HarperCollins
Amazon/Barnes and Noble
Nick Pearson is hiding in plain sight…I had a hard time finishing this book. It’s not that the characters or plot or writing was horrible... it was just that I never clicked enough with the story to be fully immersed. Nevertheless, I am sure some others people will enjoy Fake ID. I just... struggled.
My name isn’t really Nick Pearson.
I shouldn’t tell you where I’m from or why my family moved to Stepton, Virginia.
I shouldn’t tell you who I really am, or my hair, eye, and skin color.
And I definitely shouldn’t tell you about my friend Eli Cruz and the major conspiracy he was about to uncover when he died—right after I moved to town. About how I had to choose between solving his murder with his hot sister, Reya, and “staying low-key” like the Program has taught me. About how moving to Stepon changed my life forever.
But I’m going to.
The number one thing that had me yawning during the story, was that I never connected enough to the characters to care what happened to them. Maybe I am cold-hearted, but I have to feel a connection to fictional characters before I care about their life. I feel like the characters had a lot of potential. For example, I felt that Nick and I seriously should have loved each other. I (usually) really like humorous male protagonists. However, I didn't really care for Nick. I just don't think the author ever developed his characters enough for me to grow attached.
The novel did have some positive aspects. Kudos to the main character for being humorous. Also, kudos to the author for bringing non-white and non-female protagonists to the YA genre. Thank you!
That said, I still never connected to the book. The plot never pulled me in. Honestly, I remember very little of the story line and I finished this book only a month ago. That should tell you a lot about how I felt about the book. It wasn't memorable.
Overall, Fake ID wasn't terrible in any way. In fact, there were a few things I liked. Sadly, the book was pretty bland in my opinion. If the author had worked a little more on the characters, I feel like I could have enjoyed this more. I will still look out for Lamar Gile's next work.
I had the hardest time deciding what to rate the book. I'm going with 2.5 Stars.
I love books on the run, which is why I really loved it, but yeah, I didn't feel connected at times, but I just had to keep reading. But, I did love that there wasn't much romance, I know it's there but it didn't feel like the focal point (yay!), and actually really loved that they were focused on finding out the murderer. Shame you couldn't connect with it. :(
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