Three Black Swans by Caroline B. Cooney

Stars: 4


Summary from Amazon: 

 When her teacher challenges her students to research and fabricate a scientific fake of some kind, Missy calls her cousin and best friend, Claire, for help to do the trick assignment. The plan: bring Claire, who looks startlingly like Missy, to appear on the school's live morning news broadcast as a newly found twin. As it turns out, the Connecticut sophomore perpetrates a hoax that turns out not to be a hoax at all but instead a revelation of the past that her family and two others must try to deal with and accept. Claire's sobs at the moment of revelation on the news show help answer Missy's very real question–yes, the two are identical twins, somehow. That's what everyone who sees the interview at the school and soon on YouTube believes, and with the speed of the Internet, texting, and email forwarding, a third girl on Long Island soon finds herself with a question of her own: How can I look just like these two girls I've never met? Playing on the interest of teens in identity drama, this story will draw willing readers through the suspenseful days that follow. Three sets of parents and three daughters take some time for readers to separate into recognizably different characters, but their experiences delve into the nature of love, family, parenting, and the bond of siblings.



Review:


Firstly, I want to mention this book is by the author that wrote Face on the Milk Carton. I've never heard of it, but after I witnessed two girls going fan girl over it, I thought I should say something. ; )

The triplets Missy, Claire, and Genevieve are identical. Caroline B. Cooney (thankfully) manages to make their lives completely different. Missy is hyper, Claire is laidback, and Genevieve is use to taking charge. Giving the characters their own point of view was a great way to figure out all the characters motivations and feelings, but it also made it hard to remember which secondary characters go with whom.

The backbone of the book was made up of the family matters. It was the family drama that had me gasp-oh-no-you-didn’t-ing all over the place. There were some touching moments in this book. There were also moments that made me want to rip someones head off. A must-read for any mystery lover.