In Another Life: A Novel by C.C. Hunter
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
**3.5-stars**
When Chloe Holden moves to Joyful, Texas, with her mother, her once perfect life is in shambles. Her mother is in remission from her cancer but still very sick. Her Dad, who she has always considered her super hero, has cheated on her mom and left her for a much younger woman. They’re not speaking at all and using Chloe as a go-between.
In spite of all of this, Chloe is doing her best to hold it all together. Her mom is in the throes of a terrible depression and most days, Chloe functions more as a parent than a child. With her mom’s utter lack of being able to get out of her own way, Chloe is left to deal with a lot of stressful things by herself.
When Chloe bumps into Cash Colton at a local convenience store, he has an unexpected and far from friendly reaction to her.
Cash believes Chloe is lurking in town to scam his foster parents, the Fullers. They had a baby girl who was kidnapped when she was three years old and Chloe looks exactly like an age progression photograph that has been used to scam them before.
This would seem ludicrous except for the fact that Chloe is actually adopted. She remembers nothing of her life prior to being surrendered by her bio parents. Well nothing except for one vague memory that his been haunting her: her 3-year old self in a princess dress, sitting on a dirty sofa, crying and having a scary man tell her, your momma and daddy don’t want you anymore.
As you can imagine, this memory frightens her so she does her best to suppress it. As her and Cash eventually strike up a friendship, then begin to grow closer, he confesses to her what he fears. As they begin to explore the idea that she could actually be the missing girl, Emily Fuller, Chloe begins to remember more details.
In Another Life is a solid YA Contemporary story. I had moments in the beginning that gave me pause but as the story continued, I felt myself drawn in more and more. Chloe and Cash’s relationship was enjoyable. It was interesting to me to have two main characters who were part of the adoptive/foster care system. Both Chloe and Cash are struggling with issues stemming from that, Chloe definitely less so, and I found those topics interesting to explore.
Cash’s back story was very interesting and when I would find myself getting frustrated at some of his choices and behaviors, I had to remind myself of how he perceived the world differently than myself.
I did have a slight issue with Chloe’s mom. She was annoying AF and I think we had a bit too much of her. Her constant issues sucked me out of the story by taking the focus off of Chloe and Cash. I found her distracting, TBH. Also, I wouldn’t classify this as a mystery/thriller. I have heard some people talking about it and I think if you go into this with that assumption, you will be disappointed — at least if you read a lot of thrillers, which I do.
Overall, I enjoyed my time reading this story and would definitely pick up more works by this author. Thank you so much to the publisher, Wednesday Books, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I appreciate the opportunity.