Someone Else's Life by Katie Dale

When seventeen-year-old Rosie’s mother, Trudie, dies from Huntington’s Disease, her pain is intensified by the knowledge that she has a fifty-per-cent chance of inheriting the crippling disease herself. Only when she tells her mum’s best friend, ‘Aunt Sarah’ that she is going to test for the disease does Sarah, a midwife, reveal that Trudie was not her biological mother after all... Devastated, Rosie decides to trace her real mother, hitching along on her ex-boyfriend’s GAP year to follow her to Los Angeles. But all does not go to plan, and as Rosie discovers yet more of her family's deeply-buried secrets and lies, she is left with an agonising decision of her own - one which will be the most heart-breaking and far-reaching of all...

Goodreads Summary


The best quality this book contains is the raw emotion the author is able to portray through the characters.  Not much of anything is held back, the reader will truly feel as if he/she is in the middle of the plot.

When Rosie's mother, Trudie, dies from Huntington's Disease, Rosie must make the terrible decision of discovering if she, too, has the gene.  However, before she can even take the test, she is told by her mother's best friend and midwife that she cannot possibly have the gene.  With further prompting, her mother's best friend admits to swapping out Trudie's baby for a healthier one.  Rosie doesn't quite know what to do, but being an inquisitive type, she sets out to find her real parents.  What she finds instead is a stable, happy family with a daughter who may be Trudie's real daughter hiding many secrets and a star of a mother who won't give her the time of day.  Rosie must make several life-altering decisions in her quest to discover her real family, as well as discovering what a "real family" truly is...could she have already had this "real family" with Trudie?

As a character, Rosie is very open and sincere.  She is easy to like, but she does have her faults.  Her boyfriend, Andy, is engagingly sweet and very supportive of Rosie's decisions.  It is interesting to note that this story is not based around one main character at all-there seem to be at least two main characters and several very important second characters that push the plot along at a fast pace. 

The events of this novel were always intriguing and could definitely be dramatic-as the topic would suggest.  The characters will pull the reader right into the story and hold his/her attention throughout the novel.  This book is highly recommended to young adult/teen readers.

4 Stars

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