YA Paranormal Review & GIVEAWAY "Imposter" by Susanne Winnacker

Title:  Imposter (Variants #1)
Author:  Susanne Winnacker

Publisher:  Razorbill 

Publication Date:  May 23, 2013
Genre:  YA Paranormal
Format:  Kindle 489 KB  |  Hardcover 288 pages

Buy this book on Amazon:  Hardcover|  Kindle Edition

Author's Website:  http://www.susannewinnacker.com/
Author's Goodreads Profile:  Susanne Winnacker

Synopsis from Goodreads: 

Can Tessa pose as Madison . . . and stop a killer before it’s too late? 

Tessa is a Variant, able to absorb the DNA of anyone she touches and mimic their appearance. Shunned by her family, she’s spent the last two years training with the Forces with Extraordinary Abilities, a secret branch of the FBI. When a serial killer rocks a small town in Oregon, Tessa is given a mission: she must impersonate Madison, a local teen, to find the killer before he strikes again. 

Tessa hates everything about being an impostor—the stress, the danger, the deceit—but loves playing the role of a normal girl. As Madison, she finds friends, romance, and the kind of loving family she’d do anything to keep. Amid action, suspense, and a ticking clock, this super-human comes to a very human conclusion: even a girl who can look like anyone struggles the most with being herself.

My Thoughts...

This was a great start to a new series.  While it's not an altogether original concept, it's a fresh take on it for sure.  I have to say also, that Tessa's "power" is pretty phenomenal.  All the Variants have pretty awesome powers and I don't even think we have seen the best of them yet.  We don't even't know the half of what Major can do!

A serial killer is terrorizing a small, relatively quiet town.  He is strangling people and the only thing that really ties them together is the "A" he is carving at the top of their rib cage.  The last girl he tried to kill didn't die.  She's in the hospital in a coma.  She is going to die, though, only the doctors and the FEA knows this though.  Tessa is only 16, but she is about to go on her first assignment.  She is going to mimic Madison's DNA and replace her in an effort to catch the killer before anyone else dies.

Tessa seems to fall into Madison's life pretty easily.  It's so different from her own and really it's the life that she always wanted for herself.  She has these really clear moments where she thinks that she can actually stay there and be Madison and I know I wanted her to be able to as I was reading.  I wanted that normal life for her just as much as she did.  I liked Tessa from the beginning, there was never a moment that I didn't really connect with her character.  I felt like she was really well developed and I am anxious to see how she grows throughout the course of this series.

Let's talk about Alec for a bit.  I LOVED Alec!  What I didn't love is how much the relationship between Tessa and Alec was like other book relationships.  These are the 2 that immediately came to mind as I was reading, Rose/Dimitri from Vampire Academy and Alex/Aiden from the Covenant Series.  Basically it's a younger girl/little bit older guy who is put in charge of training or who is a mentor in some way but who is also responsible for protecting the girl when they are on whatever "mission" they are on.  In the case of this book, though, Alec has a girlfriend.  It's never really clear what's going on with Alec and Kate.  He has very obvious feelings for Tessa though and this results in some pretty steamy kissing scenes.

There are some pretty tense moments as Tessa and Alec close in on the killer.  Tessa learns thinks about Madison that even her closest friends didn't know.  Her secrets go pretty deep and some are pretty unexpected.  In the process of catching the killer they discover more Variants living in Madison's home town.  They also get some pretty chilling details regarding a rogue group who is recruiting Variants for their own agenda and it's not a good one.

So, I really enjoyed this book.  It was action packed and had some pretty intense moments.  I truly didn't know who the killer was until it was revealed.  I had my suspicions, but even up to the very end I thought it was someone else!  I loved the characters and I think that there are some minor characters that have tremendous potential and I hope we see them popping up in the series at some point.  This is a YA so there was no concerns about content.  I would let my 13 year old daughter read this if she expressed interest in it.  I am looking forward to the next book in the series!

*Disclaimer: I was provided with a copy of this book courtesy of the publisher in exchange for my honest review.*

I have been authorized to giveaway ONE HARDCOVER copy of Imposter!!  So enter for your chance to win.

So...here are the rules:

• Must be at least 13 to Enter
• You must live in the US for hard copy books.
• You will have 24 hours to contact me once it's confirmed that you are the winner and I have emailed you.
• Failure to contact me in 24 hours will result in my drawing another name as winner. 

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