Assessment:
Plot: This YA sci-fi thriller is well paced and plotted. Skipstone’s excellent use of tension and plot reveals will keep readers invested in the story.
Prose/Style: Skipstone’s prose is skillfully crafted and at times, haunting, especially when describing the effects of trauma on survivors. The author also creates original, authentic teen voices for her characters.
Originality: Skipstone combines a sci-fi premise on sharing and erasing memories and grounds it with the very real and emotional subject of child abuse. Lead characters who feel authentic and wholly original set the story apart from others in the genre.
Character Development: The characters in Someone to Kiss My Scars are deeply memorable and convincing. Readers will root for the novel’s protagonists, Hunter and Jazz, as they slowly reveal their past traumas to one another and try to help each other heal.
Date Submitted: July 12, 2020