Title: The Originals
Author: Cat Patrick
Genre: Science-Fiction, Contempoary, Romance, Young Adult
Publisher: Hardie Grant Egmont
Publication Date: May 2013
Pages: 298
Rating: 3.5 stars

Synopsis (from goodreads):
Ella, Betsey and I look like sisters: triplets, you might think.

But that’s not what we are at all.

We are clones in hiding. We split our lives and exist as one person in the outside world. And we’ve always been happy.

But now I’ve fallen in love … and that changes everything.

Because to let love in, I need to be allowed to be Me.

My Review:

Three girls, one life. For the past decade Lizzie, Betsey and Ella have been sharing the life of Elizabeth Best. One taking the morning shift, one the afternoon and the final girl being the one to take the evenings. But Lizzie is sick of having their mother control their every move. Each taking a third of the same life with none of them getting to live their own life at all. But this is the way things have been for years and their mother says it’s for their own protection – that no one can know they aren’t sisters but rather clones. When Lizzie falls in love with Sean she doesn’t want to share him with her sisters or be forced to “date” the boy their mother chose for them. So it’s time to find out just who they’re hiding from and what secrets their mother has been hiding from them…

The idea behind this book is brilliant. Ella, Betsey and Lizzie all sharing the one life and only being allowed to leave the house when their mother permits it. I’ve not read many books regarding clones and I loved how Cat Patrick approached the subject. I loved that the girls are the same and yet so completely different from each other.

Lizzie is a great narrator. She’s sweet and trying to navigate life the best way she knows how. A bit difficult when you only get a few hours each day outside. But somehow Lizzie manages to fit in with society and set herself aside from her sisters. Sean is adorable but a little too accepting and perfect to be entirely real. Betsey and Ella are fantastic at supporting Lizzie and showing how their circumstances effect all three girls. I would have loved to have read parts of this book from the sister’s perspectives but  even just with Lizzie’s thoughts this book is complete and interesting.

I loved how the characters grew throughout this book and how the plot developed as the girls learned more about where they came from and who they were. There’s a lot of mystery and tension as things get revealed and secrets come out. Sean was a great catalyst for the triplets searching for the truth and their own lives. I felt a little let down by the ending but the build up and characters more than made up for it.

I’ve not read a Cat Patrick book before but after reading the Originals and enjoying her writing style – I’ll be looking forward to reading her other books.

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