This Golden State

Author: Marit Weisenberg
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Genre: Young Adult
Source: Kristin of Kritters Ramblings

Goodreads: The Winslow family lives by five principles:

1. No one can know your real name.
2. Don’t stay in one place too long.
3. If you sense anything is wrong, go immediately to the meeting spot.
4. Keeping our family together is everything.
5. We wish we could tell you who we are, but we can’t. Please—do not ask.

Poppy doesn’t know why her family has been running her whole life, but she does know that there are dire consequences if they’re ever caught. Still, her curiosity grows each year, as does her desire for real friends and the chance to build on something, instead of leaving behind school projects, teams, and crushes at a moment’s notice.

When a move to California exposes a crack in her parents’ airtight planning, Poppy realizes how fragile her world is. Determined to find out the truth, she mails in a home DNA test. Just as she starts to settle into her new life and even begins opening up to a boy in her math class, the forgotten test results bring her crashing back to reality.

Unraveling the shocking truth of her parents’ real identities, Poppy realizes that the DNA test has undone decades of careful work to keep her family anonymous—and the past is dangerously close to catching up to them. Determined to protect her family but desperate for more, Poppy must ask: How much of herself does she owe her family? And is it a betrayal to find her own place in the world?

Ope’s Opinion: Wow! what a great story, well written. It kept my attention the whole time. Just when I was getting a little frustrated not knowing the secret, it was revealed. But the secret was only a small part of the whole story.

This was told from Poppy’s perspective. She is a high school age student, but this is an adult story. Seeing her learn who is she, what she believes and how to deal with it made me want to keep reading.

The end was heartbreaking and amazing at the same time. I can’t say more without giving it away. I will definitely read Marit Weisenberg again.

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