Now You See Her: A Gripping Young Adult Thriller of Supernatural Suspense and Intrigue

by Lisa Leighton, Laura Stropki

AMELIA has always felt like a happy life is just out of reach. Having moved every few years with her mom and sister, she’s always had a hard time making and keeping friends; there’s never enough time, and never enough money to stay in one place. And now, in her senior year, right before tennis season, Mom wants to move again.

SOPHIE has a perfectly curated, Instagram-ready life, from her first singles wins to her cute, long-term boyfriend to the beautiful, landscaped home where she lives with her parents. Though they’re tennis teammates, the two girls almost never speak.

But then one night changes everything. When Amelia’s car breaks down on the side of the road in a rainstorm, a man she thinks is a Good Samaritan pulls over to help her. When he tries to abduct her instead, she escapes into oncoming traffic.

In one inexplicable moment, Amelia and Sophie switch bodies. Amelia wakes up in Sophie’s body. Amelia’s body is in a coma. Now Amelia needs to find a way to switch back into her own life—but before that, she must retrace her steps to unravel the mystery of the accident, her attempted abduction, and how it’s all tied to her mother’s secret past.

Genres: Young Adult, Mystery, Contemporary, Mystery Thriller, Fiction, Thriller, Fantasy

320 pages, Hardcover

First published June 26, 2018

Reviews

[Diabolica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had no intention of reading this book when it first entered my threshold. It was for my sister.

But I figured, why let her have all the fun.

It was about as fun as painting my nails in with a gel pen.

So it wasn't painful, just tedious for the most part.

I want to preface the rest of this review by saying, this book PROBABLY wasn't for me. Just reading the summary made me groan internally.

The book starts of with an average Amelia whose car stops on the side of the road. Then she almost gets abducted, but gets away only to get hit by Sophie's car and somehow (mechanics unexplained) switch into Sophie's body.

At that point, my thoughts were..

As contemporary as the rest of the plot maybe, this is in no shape or form contemporary, and seems a litttttle unoriginal.

But did I continue?

Of course I did silly. I mean I was already 47 pages in, might as well finish the other 200 or so



So, Amelia in Sophie's body, gets on with Sophie's life, trying to piece together what happened that night. All while finding that the perfect picture that Sophie presents isn't all that.

Surprise, Surprise

So we trudge forward through the book, and I'm constantly bombarded by the ridiculous actions that Amelia Sophie makes and thoughts about what I would do better.

For instance, Sophie is dating hooking up with another man that Amelia may or may not have had a not so particularly positive interaction with. But she really did not have to go and criticize him in Sophie's body.

Think about Sophie, Amelia.

But Amelia doesn't just stop there. She does things like that but with every single person that Sophie knows. But she does manage to keep two relationships on stable ground.

2 points Amelia, -10+ for Sophie.

Another thought to chew on.

Why are you [Amelia] flirting with the guy you like in another girl's body? In what universe does that make ANY SENSE.

So the heroine made some decisions that made me roll my eyes and skip a few lines.

But I didn't just skip a few lines, I skipped a few pages here and there, because the book gets a little tedious.

While it is a standalone and not long, it's not short by any means. Quite frankly I could do without some of the interactions too. Really I just wanted to get to the meat and potatoes of this mystery and I really didn't want the fluff.

So kids, the lesson of this book is:

(1) If you're in someone else's body you will not be facing any repercussions for any of the actions you do--> Those actions might have consequences [for that person anyways]

(2) There was another one, I can't remember it tho

A 2.5 stars for the actually interesting parts of the novel, but the drag and inconsiderate main character removed the possibility of any other stars.

And one more lesson for me

(3) Don't read books whose premise you're not a fan of.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5/5 stars

I really liked The Liar Society books by sisters Lisa and Laura Roecker. Now You See Her is written by those same sisters under their married names. I have no idea why they are not promoting the fact that they are the same duo. It would have made me race to read this book.

Now You See Her is a standalone Young Adult contemporary mystery. The story is about two 17 year old high school seniors Amelia and Sophie. They both play tennis for their school.

Amelia lives with her mom and sister and they are constantly forced to move to new places. Sophie is an only child who is rich and very popular.

One night during a storm Amelia's car breaks down. And something happens to her. Amelia wakes up from an accident ... in Sophie's body.

This book was really good. I normally would not be attracted to this type of story. But it was so good. And I loved that there was a mystery aspect to the story.

This book was so much more interesting than I was expecting. I liked that tennis is a part of the story. I really enjoyed the mystery. And I really enjoyed reading about Amelia and her trying to figure out what to do.

The ending was strong and overall it was a very enjoyable read.

Thanks to edelweiss and Katherine Tegen for allowing me to read this book.

[Meli · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dos autoras unen sus fuerzas y lo mejor que pueden sacar es esto, really?

La premisa ya fue mega explotada de mil maneras distintas, y este libro no aporta nada nuevo.

Amelia es llorona, infantil e irritante. Cree que es moralmente mejor que todos (eso ya es odio garrafal para mí). Destruye la vida de Sophie porque cree que es lo mejor, y ¡calmate, no es tu vida! No tenes derecho a hacer esas cosas. Si Sophie despierta, ¡sorpresa! Ya no tiene novio, amigos, amante, ni familia. Pero no es la prota, así que no problem.

Por otro lado, la madre hace algo totalmente CRIMINAL, más allá de su justificación, comete un delito terrible. Y la situación se minimiza porque ella no es la mala. Así que... ¿a quién le importa? A la autora de libros de religión para niños, ciertamente no.

[Thamy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the best YA thriller I've read in a long time.

About to move away again Amelia has always envied the life perfect Sophie led. When her car is down in the middle of a storm and a stranger doesn't seem to come with the best intentions, she runs only to be hit by no one other than Sophie herself. When Amelia wakes up, she is inside Sophie, her own body is in a dangerous coma, and the stranger is still out there without anyone to believe he even existed.

This book is a great thriller to keep you turning pages but it also approaches interesting themes like friendship and family ties that go beyond blood. It's hard not to recommend this even to those who aren't usually fond of YA's.

As if Amelia doesn't have enough problems, the more time passes, more of her memories are lost as she starts remembering, and this added to the anxiousness. It was really a gripping story, as you can see.

Unfortunately, the conclusion was quite predictable. To be honest, I was hoping for a more different answer. Still, it wasn't bad at all.



Honest review based on an ARC provided by Edelweiss. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.

[Zadie · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

[Jen Ryland (jenrylandreviews & yaallday)]

I can't resist a body-swap book, but thought this could have swapped out a few plot elements for a better story.

Two girls - one privileged, the other the child of a struggling single mother - face off on the tennis court. After the match, there's an accident, the two girls swap bodies, and one ends up in a coma. The remaining girl, in the wrong body, has to solve the mystery of what happened and how to get them switched back.

I love body swap books. I've read a lot of them, and think this one could have been even better. Read all my thoughts (and a list of body swap books) HERE on Jen Ryland Reviews


Also, I was thinking that something about the authors sounded familiar to me. A sister team of writers named Lisa and Laura ??? Remember The Liar Society trilogy by Lisa and Laura Roecker? (I think I read the first book.) Well, these are the same author-sisters (this time going by their married names.)

Read more of my reviews on JenRyland.com! Check out my Bookstagram! Or check out my Jen In Ten reviews on Youtube - get the lowdown on current books in 10-30 seconds!

Thanks to the publisher for providing an advance copy for review!

[evie0108 · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5⭐️

[merr · Rating 5 out of 5]

I genuinely cannot believe that this book doesn’t have more attention then it does. Because this book is seriously so good. It had my head spinning from start to finish, it’s full of twists and turns and surprises that leave you in shock. Like it’s such a mind game and so interesting and has such a unique plot and it’s so well wrote, I am just so shocked.

This book lowkey reminds me of a mix between the movie Abduction with Taylor Lautner and Lily Collins and the Freaky Friday movie with Lindsay Lohan. But only if Freaky Friday was a thriller, if that makes any sense.

The book follows Amelia, a teenager whose spent her whole life moving around from town to town with her single mother and younger sister. Upon entering her senior year in a town they’ve been in for the last 3 years, Amelia doesn’t want to move. Having an attitude, after a tennis match, she opts into clearing her head before driving home. While on the drive home, her car breaks down. And what she thinks is a Good Samaritan, is someone out to kidnap her. While trying to run for her life, Amelia is struck by a car. The car was being driven by another teenager in the town named Sophie. Sophie couldn’t be anymore different than Amelia, she’s the prettiest, richest, most popular girl in school, with a life Amelia has only ever dreamt about. Sophie lives what everyone thinks is a picture perfect family with loving parents and no secrets. But when Sophie hits Amelia by accident, the two somehow swap bodies. Now Amelia is in the body of Sophie and starts to live her life. Amelia (in Sophie’s body), has to convince the people in their lives that Amelia was running away from a kidnapper the night she was hit in the car. Y’all, I genuinely think the plot is so unique and so amazingly wrote, give this book a try.

There’s only two things I didn’t really like about this book. At first it kind of starts out as a slow simmer, like within the first few pages the car accident and potential kidnapping happen and then it slows down quite a bit. Trust me, I was kind of over it for a split second, but you have to bear through it! Like it comes off slow, but a lot of it connects dots further along in the story/book. So you have to tough it out. Secondly, when Amelia is living life as Sophie, I totally didn’t agree with the choices she was making! Amelia was bitter of her life and totally screwed with it, which wasn’t fair to Sophie at all.

I’m gonna end the review with some quotes that I liked in the book, maybe one will stick out to you and give you motivation to read it. But genuinely, I highly recommend reading this book, it’s so good and so worth it!

-“Unfortunately, I don’t think this is an issue that a carton of mint chocolate chip can solve”
-“listen to your gut. Your gut doesn’t lie and if it’s telling you someone it’s dangerous or bad, you don’t stop and think. You don’t try to be polite. You run.”
-“better living by pharmaceuticals, is practically our family motto”

Wait this is my last part seriously. I genuinely love both Amelia’s and Sophie’s moms in this book. Plus Sophie’s dad deserved so much better. That being said, there is some light trigger warnings of physical abuse. It doesn’t go into a whole lot of detail, but it is brushed over a couple of times. So just go in with a heads up that it does pop up!

[Rok!tsuperhero · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amelia and Sophie are from two different worlds. Sophie has this picture perfect Insta-worthy life, while Amelia's life is just unstable due to the fact that she constantly has to move and even then it's hard to make ends meet at times. The only thing they seem to have in common is tennis and that's where pretty much the story starts. Amelia and Sophie in a game of tennis and Amelia lost. It's pouring down raining and Amelia's on her way home when her car stops. Next thing you know, someone pulls up, calls her name and tries to kidnap her and as she's running away from her captor she gets hit by Sophie's car and then everything changes. I don't know what happened but after that Amelia's in a coma and now Amelia's trapped in Sophie's body and is left trying to figure out what happened that night in the rain with the "shadow man". Amelia discovered in a life of being Sophie is that her life isn't so perfect, her parents aren't perfect and there are so many lies being hidden. Such as, Sophie's dad isn't really her father. But she also uncovered that her mother has been keeping some secrets as well. The reason why she moved so much is that she was running from someone. That, someone, was Mae and Amelia's father. She even learned that's not even their real names. Their mother changed them. Their mother's mother was married to a horrible man that abused them and in revenge, she set the house on fire with him in it and ran away and then she met their father. He had some issues as well and even threatened to tell the police about what happened with her stepfather, and then and took her daughters and left and been running ever since. Amelia knowing about her father and the moving was on her way to tell Mae this when she was hit by a car and that's when Sophie came back into her body. Amelia's condition is worsening and time is running out. Amelia left behind her notebook of all the things she uncovered including Sophie's "father". Sophie asked about the paternity of her father to her mother and the only thing she said they have in common are their eyes. And of course, what do you know? They have the same father! They were born two months apart at the same hospital as well. Which means, they are half-sisters! Coming to find out, their father was a doctor but he had issues that one couldn't ever understand. Hence, why both women left him. I think this is why all of these shenanigans happened in the first place. To bring Amelia and Sophie together and bring justice to their lives so they can start living again. This book was good! Got confusing at times but I caught up because it was so good. So much going on, but not too much where you feel overwhelmed. Lol. In the end, they all got a happy ending. In my head, Amelia, Mae their mother and Sophie and her mother are all living under one roof in harmony. To me, that's the best happy ending ever.

[Jordyn Redwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a suspense take on the "Freaky Friday" plot line where two people exchange bodies and get to see and feel what it's like to live the other person's life. This time, it happens between two teens-- one popular and one not so much.

That's just the first part. The main crux of the story is the secrets that each of these teens is hiding and how their lives are in danger because of them.

Overall, an enjoyable YA novel with a fresh take on swapping bodies. Relatively clean read as far as language and sex.

[Spencer · Rating 4 out of 5]

2024
Apparently I liked this a lot more this time around. Upgraded the rating from 3 stars to 4
I still agree with my previous review that it did feel like a little bit of explanation about why/how they were body swapped, but I still enjoyed it

2019
I love a good body swap story. And I did enjoy this one, but I didn't like it as much as I hoped I would. Mostly because I felt some of it was left out of the story. It never felt like it was fully explained to me.

[Zemira Warner]

I can't for the life of me think of anything to say about this book even though I read it just a week ago.

Pacing was solid for a mystery, the mystery itself was intriguing and it kept me guessing. Characters were so-so, a bit cliche. But all in all, it was a solid, no hustle type of book. A beach read, for sure.

[Brigid Keely · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this book as part of a goodreads giveaway.

"Now You See Her" is a body-swap thriller involving Amelia, a lower class scrub from a single parent household who's obsessed with tennis and with winning tennis, and Sophie, the squeaky clean carefully presented upper class tennis star. When Sophie hits Amelia, who's trying to get away from a kidnapper one stormy night, they're both injured: Sophie gets a concussion while Amelia winds up in a coma. When "Sophie" wakes up, though, it's Amelia who's looking through her eyes and trying to figure out what happened: why is she in Sophie's body? How long will she be there? What happened? And... why was someone trying to kidnap her? Is her sister also in danger? Her mom?

This book is really predictable. I figured out the main plot as soon as the attempted kidnapping took place, and spotted the plot twist, and how it would be resolved, soon after that. That doesn't make this a BAD book. Although their parents and friends are almost all poorly fleshed out and one dimensional, Amelia and Sophie are interesting and prickly characters with a lot going on. The writing is pretty fast paced and it was interesting to see Amelia try to piece together the clues as to what's happening with her and the kidnapper, as well as trying to figure out Sophie and her life. The fact that she had to race against the clock to avoid being overtaken by Sophie's own memories was also a nice touch.

This was a fun, fast read that feels like a thriller-light, a junior thriller. I enjoyed reading it.

[Kathy Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This twisty mystery starts at a tennis match, moves next to a car accident, and moves to a hospital where one girl wakes up in another girl's body. Amelia has just found out that her family - her mother, her sister, and herself - are getting ready to move again. This will be their eighth move in fifteen years. Amelia has given up on making friends but she hasn't given up playing tennis. That is one thing that she has been doing since she learned as a six-year-old. She tries a little magical thinking and hopes that winning the match will convince her mom to let them stay.

Sophie Graham is the town's golden girl with bunches of friends and a life lived on Instragram. After defeating Amelia in the tennis match, she goes to drive home in a raging thunderstorm. Amelia has had her car break down and had someone creepy stop to help her. When she runs from him into the middle of the raod, Sophie hits her.

Now Amelia is in intense care and not expected to recover and Sophie wakes up convinced that she is Amelia. Somehow Amelia woke up in Sophie's body. She doesn't recognize her father. She doesn't know why this happened but she knows she can't tell the Grahams. They just want everything to be normal again.

Amelia tries to slip into Sophie's life and is regaining some of Sophie's memories which is rather terrifying since she feels she is losing Amelia's memories. However, she needs to find a way to convince her mother and sister that someone is after them. Luckily, she has Sophie's best friend Janie and boy next door Lance to help her unravel the mystery as long as she doesn't tell them that she is really Amelia.

I enjoyed the characters in this one. I thought the mystery was well-developed and interesting.

[BunTheDestroyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

!!POSSIBLE SPOILERS ALERT READ WITH CAUTION SPOILER ALERT!!

I did like this book a lot; it was very hard to put down. However...
1. It’s “pored” not “poured” (that mistake could have just been because i was reading an ebook)
2. SERIOUSLY?! After the talk of feminism not two sentences before and the mentions after, Amelia just assumes the birth control is for having sex??! Grrrrr and then she doesnt even TAKE it?? Come on, what harm could it do??
3. Did i miss it? What happened to the mom’s back?
4. I feel like it wouldve been more of a twist for it TO have been the mom, and not the clichéd dad

[Michelle (Pink Polka Dot Books) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid YA Mystery— a little predictable, the writing a little stilted, and the plot kinda holey at times. Even so, I got into it at certain points and I liked the duality of the characters.

[Iris Post · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun read but nothing special

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick read. The book was not exactly what I was expecting it to be. Mix of a realistic fiction/science fiction mystery.

[caitlin regan · Rating 4 out of 5]

the book as a whole was pretty good, but the ending felt rushed alongside the big reveal.

[Jennifer N · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a quick, fun read. We meet Amelia and Sophie 2 tennis rivals. An accident happens, Amelia is in a coma but ends up in Sophie's body. This book actually kept me guessing and I loved the twists and turns.

[Meghan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book as an advanced reader's copy for our young adult collection at the library. I could not put this book down. The character development between Amelia and Sophie and all of their friends were easy to relate to because they were so close to real-life actions. Just when you thought the story was going one direction with the plot, it takes an unexpected turn and you can't help to find out what happens next. Young Adults these days need more compelling, edge of your seat type of reading material and Now You See Her defines that exactly. Wonderful read that deserves infinite stars but I can only give it 5. 5 stars!

[Deeksha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Freya is a celebrity. She is a singer, since birth. But she loses her voice.
Harun is gay. He belongs to the religious family which had migrated to America from Pakistan.
Nathaniel’s father is delusional. He is left alone.

On a fateful Thursday, Freya walks out of doctor’s appointment to a park, where she falls off a bridge.
Harun, in hopes of seeing his ex-boyfriend, before going away, goes to the park and witnesses a girl falling off the bridge.
Nathaniel, who had come to New York in search of his father gets off the wrong station, walks to park and a girl falls of the bridge on him.

• This book was one of the easy reads. The plot, word building, everything is meant to suck you into the world of its own.
• For a fiction, the problems the characters were facing, weren’t unrelatable. Freya could be any celebrity dealing with family issues. Harun could be any gay guy, dealing with super religious family. And Nathaniel could be any child dealing with a delusional parent.
• This book plays a major fate card. Every character’s story has a chant of “I have lost my way”. Every character is lost in life. And every character has link to the other. At last, every character is important and helps the others in finding the way.
• The story takes place in a single day. And the things character did were relatable to the duration of the novel. It never felt it was longer than the day.
• Nathaniel and Freya had amazing chemistry. I felt bad for poor Harun. He seemed like a third wheel, chaperoning two kids, at some places.

I particularly loved this book and devoured it. Also, the character of Nathaniel. In a way he truly was a lost soul. At least a bit more lost than other two. I would surely recommend reading this. Please do read! It felt refreshing to read such an amazing and easy read after a long while.

[Lindsay · Rating 2 out of 5]

Amelia’s car breaks down in the middle of a severe thunderstorm and she is stranded on the side of the road. A stranger offers to help and attempts to abduct her. She gets away and runs into the road, trying to signal down an oncoming car during the torrential rain, but is hit instead.

When she wakes up she is stuck in the body of Sophie, the most popular girl in school and her tennis rival. Amelia goes through confusion and shock over the transformation and has to work her way through her memories to try and figure out who attempted to abduct her before they go after her little sister.

Despite being very excited to read this, I was disappointed in the slow pace, repetition, and unnecessary details. There were also huge errors regarding the plot. First off, the weather conditions were so bad with torrential rain, lightning, and wind that Amelia was barely crawling on the road since she couldn’t see anything. She had to pull her car over and wait the storm out because it was that bad. So why would Sophie be flying down the road during a thunderstorm when she can’t see where she is driving? The weather conditions are detailed multiple times, referencing how scared Amelia was when she couldn’t see the road in front of her.

Amelia ends up in a coma with stitches all over her head and face and suffers broken bones and bruising. As someone who actually has been struck by a car while jogging, you don’t suffer injuries to that extent unless you’re hit at a fast speed. That’s why it doesn’t make sense that Sophie was speeding down the road in the middle of a storm when the rain was creating zero visibility. In actuality, Sophie should have been barely moving, like Amelia, and all that should have resulted was a small bump.

For a while I thought that maybe Sophie was speeding to get away from something, and we would find out what that something was when Amelia went back to her own body. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. Sophie stupidly decided to have a joyride in the middle of a storm and obviously didn’t care that she couldn’t see anything out the windshield. So she strikes Amelia and somehow knocks herself out. Nothing was explained after this point so I’m assuming she swerved after hitting Amelia, hydroplaned off the road, and crashed into some trees. Henceforth, Amelia wakes up in Sophie’s body in the hospital after Sophie’s physical body had been passed out for a few days (doesn’t that qualify as a coma?) and had suffered a major concussion.

I suffered a severe concussion after being struck by a car. I was ordered not to attend university classes, complete homework, study, drive, watch TV, read, text, etc. You’re stagnant after suffering a concussion because you need adequate time (weeks to months depending on the severity) for your brain to heal. If you happen to ignore the rules, then there’s a chance your brain won’t heal properly and you’ll forever be stuck with side effects, like me. Amelia-in-Sophie’s-body drives Sophie’s car and jumps right back into school, classes, and homework three days after suffering a concussion and never suffers any side effects. The only issue she had was her memories getting mixed up with Sophie’s.

Other than those two issues this was an okay read. I had hoped for some suspense and mystery, but there wasn’t any. When I got to the end it seemed like there wasn’t many answers to the questions presented at the beginning and we never learn why Amelia wakes up in Sophie’s body in the first place.

I received an ARC from Edelweiss.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

two girls who both like tennis and one gets into a coma. Also secrets come out and sorta of a freaky friday . I like amelia trying to solve the mystery. I also like sophia and how she changed many times in the book. I adored Janie and Mae, and Landon. There are some twists and turns in this book.

[Teenreadsdotcom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amelia Fischer has never been “in.” She’s never made a close group of friends or hosted spontaneous sleepovers. She’s never been “in” because she’s always been “out,” as in, one foot always outside the door. Amelia’s mom has a tough job in nursing homes and has to travel almost every year. Along with her devoted and loving sister, Mae, Amelia’s never gotten close to a place like home. This time, though, she feels that it might be different. Morristown is safe, secure, and happy. They have finally stayed for three years and counting, and Amelia is about to take a shot at a huge opportunity: the First Singles spot on the tennis team.

Sophie Graham has always been circled by a group of friends, two over-caring parents and the support of the town she’s lived in since birth. Considering her perfect home, beauty and connections within her community, she has always been “in.” Which is why it’s important for her to maintain her tennis game and First Singles spot against her newer teammate.

Other than their love and skill at tennis, Amelia and Sophie have never had any similarities, or even reasons to interact with each other. This is before the night after the challenge match changes everything. When Amelia’s car breaks down and a mysterious figure moves to “help” her, things go wrong and Sophie’s car crashes into her landing both girls in the hospital. When Amelia finally wakes up, she quickly realizes something is wrong. Only vaguely familiar people are hugging her and crying, her toenails and skin tone are the wrong color and her thoughts don’t seem to connect. She realizes that she’s not Amelia. She’s the girl who beat Amelia in a tennis match and crashed into her on a state road. She’s Sophie Graham.

As Amelia (in Sophie Graham’s body) begins to piece together the puzzle of how she got where she is and how to get back to the real Amelia, more and more questions come to mind. Amelia begins to lose herself to Sophie, while grasping to discover what happened that crazy night and why some parts of her puzzle don’t fit anymore. With strength, courage and dedication, Amelia learns more about her past along with more about Sophie’s. She realizes that the walls on the outside may not show the faded memories locked on the inside. In NOW YOU SEE HER, connections begin to unravel and it leads Sophie and Amelia both reaching through faith to find each other.

As a fellow teenage reader, I would be lying if I didn’t say that I gasped multiple times or said “Oh my God, WHAT?!!!” in the reading of this book. My parents definitely became a little scared of all the times I just stopped reading and said “OH NO.” The book was captivating and energetic. It twisted me around like a pool towel. For example, it would let me dry out for a chapter or two, then soak me in new information to create a better complex mystery. Then it would flip me around with a surprising plot twist (these are the super loud gasps I’m talking about).

One of my favorite parts of the book was how connected I became to the characters; they were very real and became very personal. I could confirm this when I started to shake and cry at the end and in the epilogue. I enjoyed every plot twist and every time a new string would lead back to something I read in the very beginning. I don’t know about personal opinions on cliffhangers, but the author really created some surprises for the last few chapters --- and then the story was fully explained in the best form possible (no spoilers!). I thoroughly enjoyed this part because the author revealed different layers from details I had forgotten about buried deep within the story.

There were few points of negativity I had for NOW YOU SEE HER. One thing that confused me was that some of the memories or instances where Sophie’s “soul,” shall we say, and Amelia’s soul couldn’t be distinguished. I would have to read the section and the section before more than once to figure out whose perspective I’m thinking from. Another thing that may be seen negatively were some of the cliché parts of it, especially in the middle area. There were times where I got frustrated about how often I’ve seen similar stories with the “switching bodies” and the depression or realization of “Oh, her life isn’t as glamorous as it seems” themes. As I got closer to the end, the story went a lot deeper than those other books and the negative thoughts faded away. What I’m saying is, don’t stop reading because you think you’ve heard it before, I promise that it gets better!

The authors of NOW YOU SEE HER definitely pulled off the mystery-fantasy elements of a captivating and complex story. It could hook a reader for an all-night read or keep them busy during a long flight. It isn’t the type of characters or story I’ll forget anytime soon.

Reviewed by Lillian B., Teen Board Member

[Jaclyn B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm so glad I found this book. It was featured as one of the "mental health awareness month" picks from the library, so that was enough to grab my eye. The book itself reminded me of the Airhead series, by Meg Cabot, which was something I'd enjoyed in the past. That was enough to get me to open the book, and then it was simple from there.

It starts with a tennis match. Amelia's mother announced that they were moving, again, and Amelia hopes that by challenging (and winning) the spot for first singles on their high school tennis team will be enough to convince her mother that they need to stay. She loses though and can't help the anger and helpless frustration that consume her afterwards. Which is why she later finds herself caught in a downpour, struggling to see through the sheeting rain to make her way back home. She misses her turn, and of course her car chooses that moment to break down.

When a man grabs her, she does everything she can to get away. She manages to break free of his grasp, and sees headlights coming. Amelia wakes up in the hospital, expecting to be questioned about the man who grabbed her. She needs to warn her sister, Mae, since the man mentioned both girls by name as he sought to take her. Instead, she's surrounded by worried parents she doesn't know, and doctors who keep sedating her, saying confusion is normal with head traumas.

Nothing is normal about the fact that she's no longer herself. Instead, she's Sophie, the girl Amelia had challenged in tennis. The perfect girl, with her picture perfect boyfriend and family. Amelia soon realizes the only way that she can get them to let her leave, and to stop watching her like a hawk, is to pretend that she is Sophie.

However, as people re-enter Sophie's life, Sophies memories flood in. With them, a little piece of Amelia disappears. How can Amelia return to herself, and is Sophie trapped as her, while Amelia's body struggles to live in the ICU? What happens when too much of Amelia's memories slip away - will she cease to exist? The best solution Amelia can find is to write down everything she knows, whether it's her own birthday and memories of her life, or revelations about Sophie.

This book was such a joy. I'm so excited that I found it, and I've already had my mom order it for her high school library. Of course telling her that she needs to read it too, immediately. I was swept into the mystery, and it was so interesting to see how Sophie's life changed with Amelia at the wheel. And how much Amelia learned about herself, even as she was desperately trying to hang on and figure out what happened that night. Even if nobody else saw it, there really had been a man who'd tried to take her, and nobody was looking for him.

Definitely a hidden gem, I'm so happy that the librarians thought to feature it. I can't wait to have more people read it, and see new reviews to hear what they thought about it!

[emily- mossyreads · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars!

Not gonna to lie, the first 75% of this book had me thinking I was only going to give it two stars. The concept was good, but the information reveals in the chapters were just a little too slow for my taste. I liked the characters enough to stick it out and give it a chance and I'm glad that I did!

Amelia finds herself trapped in the body of Sophie Graham after an accident. Now she's on a quest to figure out how to earn her life back. I have to say this gave me a lot of Don't Look Back feels in the beginning. It was the same kind of story without the body swapping thing, which is what originally had me gravitating towards this book when I bought it like a year ago. (is this becoming a pattern? stay tuned.)

Seemed kind of cliche when I started it. Nerdy, awkward girl switches places with her nemesis popular girl. I was immediately annoyed with Sophie's parents and Amelia's inability to keep her cool for the first 100 pages or so of the switch. (Hypocritical, I know. I have no idea how I would react waking up in a stranger's body. I'd probably wouldn't be thinking clearly either.) But I slowly started to come around to all of it as the story started really coming together.

Confession: I hate the name Landon.

This made is so hard for me to like Landon Crane throughout the book even though he's usually exactly the kind of male character I would be smitten with. I just couldn't read his name with out picturing one of the two Landons that I know in real life that are absolute jack wagons. And also he drives a Volkswagen Bug which only makes me picture Ted Bundy. Sorry.

Page 228 got me hooked though. The slow first 75% of this book was suddenly made worth it by one of the best drops I could have imagined in this book. Everything was suddenly moving so quick as Amelia began to solve the mystery and I couldn't put it down. I had to know how it ended and whether or not everyone got a happy ending.

So I'm glad I decided to finish this book because it was a good story! I wish it had been a little quicker paced in the beginning, but the end made it worth it!

[Isabel Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Something strange has happened to high school senior Amelia Fischer. After finding out that her mom is uprooting them for the upteenth time and losing a vital tennis match to all-star rival Sophie Graham, Amelia feels a mixture of anger and disappointment. When she finds herself stranded in the middle of a severe lightning storm and on the verge of being kidnapped by an unknown assailant, she panics and blindly runs out onto the flooded street and WHAM!, directly into the path of oncoming traffic. As fate would have it, she gets hit by none other than Sophie Graham.

The two girls are as different from one another as night and day. While Sophie fits in perfectly at school and comes from a seemingly stable and wealthy family, Amelia finds it hard to make friends and struggles to help her single mom make ends meet. In a peculiar turn of events, things take a magical turn à la Freaky Friday. After the car accident, Amelia wakes up in Sophie's body. Amelia's body is in critical condition and the whereabouts of Sophie's consciousness are unknown. The more time she spends in Sophie's body, the more Amelia comes to realize that they have more in common than first meets the eye. Part of her sympathizes with Sophie, but the other part of her just wants to find her way back into her own body before she loses touch with herself and all her memories.

This young adult novel is the first work written by the sister duo, Lisa Leighton and Laura Stropki. It is an interesting and captivating take on the classic body-swap tale because readers mainly get perspective from one of the affected characters. I liked the way that Sophie and Amelia worked together in a unique fashion to wrap up the loose ends of their story and provide closure for the reader. I look forward to reading more by this sister duo in the future.

[Charlotte · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book and thought it had an intriguing plot, I hadn’t read a body switch book in a while and thought it would be a short, sweet book I could read in a day. It was.

The book follows the life of Amelia before, during and after a run in with death. However most of the book takes place in Sophie’s body. I enjoyed seeing her navigate the world around her yet as a character is annoyed me how she could wreck what everyone has worked towards. I disliked the character of Amelia for this reason because of how meddling she was. And how Sophie doesn’t address this issue when she is returned to her body confuses me. She says how hard she has worked to achieve all this yet it doesn’t matter that in 4 days someone has ruined it all.

Anyway the book was very predictable from the start, there wasn’t any information I hadn’t seen from at least a few chapters ahead and the lack of plot twists bored me. Yes to a mystery novel but do you get that same enjoyment from it when you have predicted the biggest plot reveal all the way from chapter 3.

It also makes no sense to have the majority of the book in Amelia’s perspective and then to suddenly switch for a few chapters to Sophie’s. Why? If the author wanted to explore both perspectives do it equally, look at Sophie before or after the event not just for 3 chapters after we have found out the events of her life.

Despite its flaws I found it a fun book to read and shows people the importance of their own lives and what to be grateful for. What I also appreciated was how they showed the pros and cons of host lifestyles and I feel all kinds of readers can relate to Sophie or Amelia and hopefully take away a closure about their own lifestyle and feel grateful for it.

[Amrita Nambiar · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was in the mood for a book along the lines fo Genuine Fraud, and The Cheerleaders, and I spotted this book sitting unopened in my library. I had never before heard of it, and so didn't know anything about it or whether it was the kind of book I wanted to read. It turned out to be an absolutely amazing book. Touches upon very disturbing themes but the style of writing, the storyline and the characters are just perfect. I like how both the seemingly unrelated women who provide alternating POV's get entwined and then begin to portray two sides of the same story. The only thing that didn't sit well with me was how the book ended. I was genuinely traumatised and although this book is a work of fiction, I was very concerned for the unborn baby. In an alternate universe, I hope that vile, evil woman is caught and jailed for life. But apart from that, I was quite satisfied with how the book ended, and how the conflicts were resolved.

This book was really well written and I would definitely recommend it to anybody who is looking for a good quality, dystopian, crime/ thriller novel.