Lisa Romasco Moore

Literary Merit: Not really there
Characterization: Okay
Recommended: No
Level: High School

Jolene has an unusual secret. She has a secret twin sister, Lee, who lives in the woods that surround the small town where Jo lives. They're both 15 and go running together most nights. As Jo's grades begin to tank, though, she decides that it would help if she didn't go out with Lee as often as she does. When Lee sees Jo with another high schooler in the woods, she becomes angry and attacks Henry. Since no one else was witness to this event, the townsfolk assume that Jo is the assailant. Jo feels torn about whether or not to reveal her secret twin sister to clear her name. Perhaps Jo will decide to go with Lee's suggestion of living in the woods together and forsake the modern world.

The opening chapters of this book were really intriguing. I love the concept of a secret, almost-feral twin sister living out in the woods.

Overall, though, this book has a number of flaws that keep me from being able to recommend it. The most glaring of these is the death of two men that were left completely unresolved. Additionally, the ending is unbelievable and doesn't tie up many loose ends.… (més)

I didn't struggle with the pacing of Some Kind of Animal but it just left me wanting and the content seemed a little extreme from what I was expecting. I would put this book in a similar vein as The Hiding Girl by Dorian Box but that story felt a little more complete than this one. It was a little bit difficult to connect with Jo and her reactions to the events of her life and it made me feel distanced from the story. Only towards the very end of the novel do we really learn much about Lee, her sister; how she's been living, what she's gone through, etc. I despised girls like Savannah in high school and apparently, my feelings on that haven't changed. The stuff chosen to bring into the woods irked me a bit - at 15 I would have thought the girls would be a little bit smarter about the items chosen. I think that if the entire premise aside from Jo & Lee being twins was just inside Jo's mind - that would have blown it away for me.

This book contains quite a few sensitive subjects and profanity of all kinds. Mainly underage drug use, addiction, teen pregnancy, murder, death of a parent, physical punishment, and neglect (although no one believed Jo about her sister). Jo is 15 years old, resides in a small neglected mining town in the Ohio Appalachian Mountains where the rules for kids are more lax, and the residents are more old school in their approach to raising children.

As a parent, I would have a hard time letting my kid of the same age as Jo read this book. I know that many of these situations exist in the daily lives of children and I believe stories like this one need to be read too - but if it were my daughter reading it I would choose to buddy read this one. This book was an interesting concept but was very morally gray. I would be selective in recommending it and definitely to an older young adult audience who enjoys thrillers. Thank you to Delacorte Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this dark and twisty thriller as a digital ARC - all opinions are my own.… (més)

Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book that I got through NetGalley for review.

Story (3/5): Jo lives in a small Appalachian town with her aunt. Jo’s mother disappeared fifteen years ago and the mystery of this casts a shadow over Jo. Unfortunately, no one knows that Jo has a secret that is causing her day to day life to fall apart. She has a sister who lives in the woods, a sister who desperately wants Jo to join her in the woods. As Jo struggles to unravel the mystery behind her family she gets drawn deeper into her sister’s world.

This was an interesting mystery but the whole thing just ended up feeling kind of anti-climatic and unfinished to me. By the end I just felt like, “Uh, okay….so what?”

Characters (3/5): Jo was okay but I was pretty frustrated with how long she had kept her sister’s secrets. I get that she couldn’t trust many of the adults in her life, but she never really tried to trust them either. I also didn’t understand some of the side characters, like her “love interest” Henry, why was he even in the story? Then there is her wild sister Lee, another interesting character but not well developed. All the characters felt kind of selfish and confused and made a lot of bad decisions which was frustrating.

Setting (4/5): I enjoyed the setting in a small Appalachian town and the forest surrounding it. The author did a good job making this sleepy small town setting really come alive for the reader.

Writing Style (3/5): This was a bit of a mess overall. I never felt like there was much propelling this story forward. Yes, there was the mystery about Jo’s mom but I never felt like it really mattered. Also there was Jo’s sister but I never felt like there was a good outcome for her and the way it ended was very non-committal. The writing was okay and the descriptions of the surroundings were good. Everything else felt really under developed and unfinished to me.

My Summary (3/5): Overall this was an interesting idea and I loved the description around the settings. However, the story didn’t have a lot to drive it forward. I also felt like the characters and the resolution were unfinished. It was an okay read but I didn’t love it and wouldn’t necessarily recommend it. If you have a particular interest in children that grow up literally wild, you might enjoy this.… (més)