Book Review: Rippler



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Rippler by Cindey Swanson
What if you could become invisible?  Samantha can - and someone wants her dead.

Just when Samantha Ruiz finally starts making friends and feeling happy again, an alarming problem arises: she becomes invisible at random intervals.  After such an occurrence during a kayaking adventure, a teammate reveals that this is caused by a very rare gene.  She and her teammate, Will, begin an adventure of research and secrets in an attempt to help Sam take control of her Rippler's Syndrome while Will and his older sister try to find answers to the scientific mysteries and strange murders surrounding research of this gene.
For a self-published book, this was amazing.  Actually, for any publication method, this book was amazing.  The cover and description themselves drew me in, and everything kept going up from there.  The characters were easy to relate to and realistic; the back stories were believable and true to the character's present situations.  The plot was original and very well-backed-up, although the ending was somewhat a cliffhanger.  The scientific aspect was amazingly created.  This is one teen book with the perfect blend of romance and adventure - the perfect mix of originality and truth.

From what I understand, this is the author's debut novel.  I must say that if she knows how to market her work, the stunning quality of her work will do the rest of the work.  I expect to see her climb the ladder of teen fiction popularity soon.  My only complaint was the use of curse words.  In several areas, the author hinted at cursing without actually writing the words - this shows taste and reality at the same time.  However, as the book progressed, the hinting shifted to use of the actual words, and this just turns me away.  Why ruin a great story with bad language?  Simply because it's in the real world doesn't mean it has to be on the page.

I give this book four stars, and am absolutely dying to read book two.

I received this book for free through LibraryThing in exchange for this review.  All opinions expressed are entirely my own.