Impostor by Jill Hathaway

This is my first non picture book that I have checked out from my new library! (I’m a youth services librarian…we read a lot of picture books). I remember super enjoying Hathaway’s first book in the series. I got to meet her last year too, and was also impressed by how awesome she was.

If I remember correctly, I have now read both of her books in one sitting (separately). Granted, they are sort of short for today’s YA crowd. But still, I was really hooked in Vee’s story. The first book was about Vee recovering from her losses and simultaneously figuring out who was murdering teens at her school. There’s no long line of murders in this one, but in some regards its even scarier than the first book. Vee, who can slide into other people by touching objects that they once touched, is coming to realize that someone must be sliding into her now.

Probably the only thing scarier than an unknown murderer is an unknown person with the same strange, supernatural ability as Vee, using Vee’s body to do bad things (like crash cars and ruin revenge schemes). So, Vee never really seems to have it easy. Between loosing her mother, her first love, and then having this weird ability and few friends, she doesn’t have much going for her, besides her best friend, Rollins. Rollins saved her from a really terrible situation in the first book and he’s the only one who knows Vee’s secret.

Unfortunately, just when Vee is starting to realize she might return her best friend’s feelings, in enters a new girl in Rollins’ life. Thankfully, though some friends from Vee’s past kind of redeem themselves and watching the girls plot a revenge mission against the scum of the earth character from the first book was pretty epic. And Vee had a lot of things to distract her from the new girl in Rollins’ life. But of course lots of things get in the way of the revenge mission. And just when I thought there would be no more murders, I found out I was wrong. There’s more teen murder, more supernatural mystery, more family drama (with a long lost aunt), more romance, and more growing up.

Plenty of questions get answered in this one. It was interesting to hear more about Vee’s mother. And it was fun getting to see how much more in control Vee was of her powers. She specifically aimed to slide into people in this one to get some answers. And this made her stronger.

I was on the edge of my seat the whole time, trying to guess who the other slider was! I was hoping for Vee and her bestie to hook up since the last book! I love that she kind of addresses her hyperactive caffeine addictions. And I super loved the jerkface who took advantage of Vee and other various other females kind of getting what was coming to him.

It was fun watching Vee hang out with her old friend. I felt her pain when she was given a makeover. And I understood her mistrust of her long lost aunt. Vee has a lot of flaws, but who wouldn’t after going through what she did? At least she still has hope for a better understanding of her unique abilities.

I still kind of find her dad a little unbelievable. Like why has he not noticed his daughter’s caffeine intake? Does he not know about the final deaths that happened in the last book? I kind of wanted him to be more worried about his daughters. Though, I was super impressed by how Vee’s sister has developed into a decent character.

I also kind of liked that Rollins wasn’t perfect. The other girl complicated things for Vee, but also kind of just made Rollins seem more believable. Sometime the guy interests in these books can seem too perfect. And Rollins, while still the best listener, and hero of distressed Vee, is now more human.

I was really impressed by how Hathaway continued the story. I still have some questions. I hope she still continues the story. I want to know more about possible other sliders. I want to see where things go with Rollins. Overall, this one gets a 9/10 from me. I had so much fun reading this!