review by Kara, teen reviewer
Parallel by Lauren Miller
Abby Barnes has a very detailed plan for her life. She has everything mapped out from what classes she’ll take, what college she’ll attend, to when she’ll get a job. But her plan doesn’t account for a canceled class and in turn, an unforeseen class rescheduling. She has the choice between drama and astronomy, one leads her on a path that takes her to L.A. and the other leads her to Yale. While these two parallel worlds were supposed to be completely separate, a collision of worlds leaves Abby leading the life of her parallel, one where she took the other path.
The plot was pretty good. It kept you on edge and able to keep up with 2 different storylines. As soon as one chapter ended, you needed to know what was going to happen in the next, which led to staying up until the early hours of the morning reading on my part. While there was one or two plot twists that I didn’t expect, they were nicely foreshadowed and implied so they weren’t dramatic twists that were too convenient or out of place. And even though the concept was a little confusing (I didn’t start to fully grasp it until I was halfway through), it was pretty easy to work around it, and once you did it was pretty intriguing to see how things played out.
I loved the supporting characters. Abby’s best friend, Caitlin, was her own person (so her life didn’t revolve around Abby’s), but was still there for her best friend when she needed her. Abby’s family was a perfect balance of caring without being overbearing, able to give Abby the independence expected of a college student, but still there when she needs it. Even though Abby was a little unrelatable at times (on account of her single-mindedness, a trait that isn’t common amongst people her age (or at least the ones I know)), most of her reactions are understandable and maybe even relatable (relatable if you found yourself in a parallel life).
Overall I recommend this book to anyone who wants a more laidback sci-fi or to anyone who wants a quieter coming of age. 5 stars. –Kara, teen reviewer
Find the book in our library: Parallel