Review: Engaging Read
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 11 18, 2011
This is an inspirational - with bite. Mistaken Identity deals with faith and friendship. Add in a new boy in town and the faith and friendships becomes sorely tested. In this first effort of genre switch from adult to teen Inspirational the author maintains her fluent writing style, depth of characterisation, and on the edge-of-your-seat action.By writing in the first person, Ms Byrd allows her readers to get right into her heroine Eden's head and there you find all the angst and insecurities of the average teen. That said, Eden is no wimp.When she discovers Lexi, her `best' friend, is nothing of the kind, Eden has choices to make. Does she remain in character or does she make a push beyond her comfort zone and go for what she wants? In Lexi Ms Byrd dramatically highlights the dilemma Christian teens face in today's `because I want it, I can have it' culture. The tension between Eden and Lexi takes off into the stratosphere when Channing, the new boy, arrives in town.From a writer as visual as Ms Byrd, it is hard not to imagine yourself there beside Eden, Lexi and Channing. She creates realistic characters and then places them in situations most people can relate to in some form or other, and bingo, the empathy is there between reader and the characters and kept me engaged to the end.Despite being unfamiliar as I am with the American school culture and atmosphere, I had no problem engaging with her cast.I'd be surprised if Ms Byrd's transition to the YA genre does not create a whole new raft of reader/fans for her books. A very good read.Originally posted at The Long and Short of It Romance Reviews