The Replacement by Brenna YovanoffI received an ARC of this book through Star Book Tours.
Description: Mackie Doyle seems like everyone else in the perfect little town of Gentry, but he is living with a fatal secret - he is a Replacement, left in the crib of a human baby sixteen years ago. Now the creatures under the hill want him back, and Mackie must decide where he really belongs and what he really wants.
A month ago, Mackie might have told them to buzz off. But now, with a budding relationship with tough, wounded, beautiful Tate, Mackie has too much to lose. Will love finally make him worthy of the human world?
My Review: The Replacement is an original and edgy read that introduces readers to a dark and twisted world. Told through the eyes of Mackie Doyle it portrays the uglier side of human nature and unimaginable beings that exist on the fringes of human society.
The two characters that stood out the most for me were Tate and Emma. Tate was a strong, independent female character. When her younger sister's "replacement" dies, Tate is the only one to defy the townspeople's long-held silence regarding missing babies. I liked how her love for her sister was so great that she was willing to speak up for her sister even though the rest of the town, including her family, was following the status quo.
Emma too, was a strong, independent female character who accepted and loved her brother Mackie's replacement, despite knowing he wasn't really her brother. While almost all replacements, sickly to begin with, died young, Mackie grew up to be a teenager because of the love and attention that Emma gave him. She was willing to sacrifice for her brother so that he could survive in the human world.
The one character I would have like to see more development on was Mackie's friend Roswell. I would have loved to learn more about his family and what made them the exception to the rest of the townspeople.
The Replacement was a well written story of dark and dangerous beings. Yovanoff has created a great atmospheric novel that will appeal to older teens and adult readers.
My Rating: 4 stars
Decsription and picture courtesy of Goodreads.
