Marit Weisenberg’s This Golden State follows a family on the run, a restless teenage daughter hungry for the truth, and the simple DNA test that threatens their carefully crafted world
The Winslow family lives by five principles:
1. No one can know your real name.
2. Don’t stay in one place too long.
3. If you sense anything is wrong, go immediately to the meeting spot.
4. Keeping our family together is everything.
5. We wish we could tell you who we are, but we can’t. Please—do not ask.
Poppy doesn’t know why her family has been running her whole life, but she does know that there are dire consequences if they’re ever caught. Still, her curiosity grows each year, as does her desire for real friends and the chance to build on something, instead of leaving behind school projects, teams, and crushes at a moment’s notice.
When a move to California exposes a crack in her parents’ airtight planning, Poppy realizes how fragile her world is. Determined to find out the truth, she mails in a home DNA test. Just as she starts to settle into her new life and even begins opening up to a boy in her math class, the forgotten test results bring her crashing back to reality.
Unraveling the shocking truth of her parents’ real identities, Poppy realizes that the DNA test has undone decades of careful work to keep her family anonymous—and the past is dangerously close to catching up to them. Determined to protect her family but desperate for more, Poppy must ask: How much of herself does she owe her family? And is it a betrayal to find her own place in the world?
The Winslow family lives by five principles:
1. No one can know your real name.
2. Don’t stay in one place too long.
3. If you sense anything is wrong, go immediately to the meeting spot.
4. Keeping our family together is everything.
5. We wish we could tell you who we are, but we can’t. Please—do not ask.
Poppy doesn’t know why her family has been running her whole life, but she does know that there are dire consequences if they’re ever caught. Still, her curiosity grows each year, as does her desire for real friends and the chance to build on something, instead of leaving behind school projects, teams, and crushes at a moment’s notice.
When a move to California exposes a crack in her parents’ airtight planning, Poppy realizes how fragile her world is. Determined to find out the truth, she mails in a home DNA test. Just as she starts to settle into her new life and even begins opening up to a boy in her math class, the forgotten test results bring her crashing back to reality.
Unraveling the shocking truth of her parents’ real identities, Poppy realizes that the DNA test has undone decades of careful work to keep her family anonymous—and the past is dangerously close to catching up to them. Determined to protect her family but desperate for more, Poppy must ask: How much of herself does she owe her family? And is it a betrayal to find her own place in the world?
Published: March 1, 2022
Publisher: Flatiron
Author: Marit Weisenberg
My review:
I'm grateful to Flatiron books for providing me with a copy of this book to read and give an honest review.
Unfortunately, I got 60% in before I gave up.
Why I requested to read it: interesting plot with secrets. I do love a plot with secrets, especially one I cannot figure out. One with little clues all the way through that keep me guessing.
Why I stopped reading: this book is not that. Unfortunately, even by 60% I had no idea what was going on. Perhaps had I gotten to the end I would have seen there were clues all along, but nothing made me want to stay focused enough to do that. I put the book down for a week or two hoping I would pick it back up and see more to it. But I was wrong.
The pace: a little slow for me but the chapters did go by quick enough once I sat to read it.
The characters: they all came across as flat to me. I did not see any characteristics that truly set one out from the other. This was especially true of the narrator who just did not have any development for me even 60% through the book.
The plot: how many times must the narrator say she doesn't know the secret. Overt and over again and still there was nothing to make me want to truly learn what it was. There was not enough movement for me from point A to point B by over half way through the book. Maybe if there were some thrilling scenes where you were kept in suspense I would have been more likely to want to keep reading to see what that secret was.
The writing: it was not horrible but not the best. I found it a bit young (yes, I know it's a young adult book but the narration was definitely not high school level for me, more like middle school).
Overall I just could not force myself to like this one, despite the intriguing blurb.
Overall I just could not force myself to like this one, despite the intriguing blurb.
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