{Review} of HERE by Denise Grover Swank

Here by Denise Grover Swank
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

GENRE: YA Fantasy
THEME: Dystopian, Futuristic, Romance
RECEIVED: For Review from The Teen Book Scene
AUTHORS BLOG: Denise Grover Swanks' Site


BLURB:

Sixteen year old Julia Phillips buries herself in guilt after killing her best friend Monica in a car accident. Julia awoke in the hospital with a broken leg, a new talent for drawing and false memories of the accident, in which she dies and Monica lives. The doctors attribute this to her head injury, but no one can explain how a bracelet engraved with her name ended up at the scene of the accident. A bracelet no one has ever seen before.

Classmate Evan Whittaker paid Julia no attention before the accident, let alone after. Now suddenly he’s volunteering to tutor her and offering to drive her home. She can't ignore that his new obsession started after his two-day disappearance last week and that he wears a pendant she’s been drawing for months. When the police show up one night looking for Evan, he begs Julia to run with him, convincing her that Monica is still alive. Julia agrees to go, never guessing where he’s really from.

REVIEW:
I wasn’t sure what to expect when I got this book, I thought it was going to be focused on horror. But I was definitely wrong; Here is a creatively written dystopian themed story. Denise Swanks really pulled the story along emotionally and the big twist of mystery behind what’s going on was fantastically original.

Julia Phillips is lost, her life as hit an extremely low point after losing her best friend in a car accident. Strangely enough she doesn’t remember what happened and begins to do things she’s never been able to do before. But the oddest part of all as that the most popular guy in school is now paying attention to her. For a girl whose lost everything and turned into an outcast at school and her family, she has no idea her life is about to change in a huge way.

Julia has it really rough. After the accident not only did her friend die, but she was accused of it being her fault. She doesn’t remember anything and they way people are treating her is down right horrible. She is very distant with everyone at school and her parents. But I felt horrible that know one really understood what she was going through. Julia luckily finds salvation in the only person who is trying to connect to her, Evan her tutor. But something is strange about him as he completely did a 180 of who he used to be now that he’s with Julia.

Evan is a mystery; I really liked how he wanted to help Julia through dealing with the loss of her friend. But then everything changes with the Evan, whom Julia was beginning to trust and like. The police show up and Evan comes to her claiming her best friend is still alive. The crazy part is that Evan is about to bring Julia into a world she could never imagine.

There are some great secondary character including Monica whom is everything I thought she wouldn’t be. Then of Course Reece, oh how I loved Reece. Both Evan and Reece really care for Julia, so be prepared for a love triangle and that both boys are hard to resist.

Overall this was a great thrill with a science fiction end and some interesting history with the Cuban Missile Crisis. The whole novel is well written with fantastic characters and the twist of two universes. Get ready for slight cliffhanger that with having you begging for the sequel THERE.

RECOMMENDATION:
This is a young adult novel that has a very original storyline. Fans of P.T. Michelle’s Brightest Kind of Darkness and S.R. Johannes Untraceable will be captivated by Denise Grover Swanks novel Here.

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