Identical by Ellen Hopkins

Summary: Sixteen-year-old identical twin daughters of a district court judge and a candidate for the United States House of Representatives, Kaeleigh and Raeanne Gardella desperately struggle with secrets that have already torn them and their family apart.

Identical is the first Ellen Hopkins book I have experienced and rather than read it, I decided to listen to the audio book. To say the least, listening to this book over reading it made the book not only come alive, but amped up the intensity and suspense of it.

Identical tells the tale of two identical twin sisters who couldn’t be more different from one another. The reader of this book did a great job distinguishing between the characters, which made the book easier to understand. Kaeleigh sounds sweet and innocent while Raeanne sounds like pure evil. At times I would listen to Identical while driving home at night and Raeanne’s rather intense character had me afraid to get out of my car in the dark. Both characters come alive and having the story told from varying points of view make the plot of the story move quickly and will have readers biting their nails until the very end of the book.

Ellen Hopkins’ books are always either checked out of the library or have a number of holds on them, which made me always have a nagging feeling that I needed to experience what the hype was all about. After listening to Identical, I was not let down in the least! Hopkins writes with such gritty, raw descriptions that, although sometimes hard to get through, just makes you want to continue reading that much more. What I will say is that Identical is a book with a number of plot twists and turns and an ending that readers won’t see coming!

I “really liked” this book and would give it 5 out of 5 stars.

**If you like this book, you might like one of these…***

Dirty Little Secrets by Cynthia Jaynes Omololu

Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott

Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson