Finding Jennifer Jones by Anne Cassidy (Young Adult, 10E/10E)

 /6th February 2014, Hot Key Books, 288 pages, Paperback, Review copy

Themes: life after being a child offender, making mistakes, having an insular view on the world, trying to be a different person, trying to unravel the past, finding people who care, moving on

Summary from Hot Key Books

Kate Rickman seems just like any other nineteen-year-old girl. She goes to university, she dates nice, normal boys and she works in her local tourist office at the weekend. But Kate's not really normal at all. 'Kate' is in fact a carefully constructed facade for a girl called Jennifer Jones - and it's a facade that's crumbling fast. Jennifer has spent the last nine years frantically trying to escape from her horrifying past. Increasingly desperate, Jennifer decides to do something drastic. She contacts the only other girl who might understand what she's dealing with, breaking every rule of her parole along the way. Lucy Bussell is the last person Jennifer expects any sympathy from, but she's also the last person she has left.

Nayuleska's thoughts

I feel this is going to be a short review, and that's not because I didn't enjoy seeing Jennifer figure out her life. I am wowed by how awesome the story is. I positively adored (probably not the best term to use...) finding out about life for Jennifer when she was in the special children's prison, something that was only hinted at in book one (see recommended read). Although I though Jennifer was a total numpty when she did something huge which clearly was a bad idea (unlike the first thing which was a very good idea involving pen and paper), I still cheered her on. She has so much regret for changing people's lives that if the people who are nasty to her were privy to her inner turmoil they should forgive her and be kinder but because of who they are they wouldn't.

As for the end, well, the way she manages to start making a positive future says that her childhood crime isn't going to totally ruin her life as it could. She has people to help bolster her through the tough times which will be a 24/7 event. I was pleased that Anne didn't go down the route of making life a misery for Jennifer in the way that when things went wrong they then went right. I loved every word in this book, and I wish one day there may be a book 3 or at least a copy of Sara's book, which Jennifer gets a copy of.

Find out more about this amazing series on Anne's website.

Suggested read

You have to read book 1, Looking for JJ (Young Adult, 10E/10E)