Saving Casey by Liza O'Connor - Book Review

Title: Saving Casey

Author: Liza O'Connor

Publisher:Bono Books - Decadent Publishing

Publication Date: November 2012

Pages: 178

Format: E-Book - PDF
Genre: YA

Source: Review Copy from Author

 

 


Having been diagnosed with cancer, Cass Goldman decides to opt out of any futile medical care and end her life. While she has some thoughts on afterlife, she never expects to reincarnate into the body of a seventeen-year-old girl named Casey Davidson.

When she awakens in a hospital, Cass discovers two disturbing facts: One, she is now inside the body of a troubled teenager, and two, the former owner of this body committed suicide, but only Cass knows that. Everyone else believes Casey has survived, but suffered a complete memory loss. Cass has two choices: to take on Casey’s life and turn it around, or to confess the truth about her reincarnation and end up in a mental asylum. Given this second chance at life, Cass decides to take on the future life of Casey—the frightening ghoul-faced teen with short, black, spiky hair.

Every person around Cass has an ulterior motive and discovering the truth of Old Casey’s life is more complicated than the “new math” she is forced to learn in school. In addition, Cass has to contend with raging teenage hormones and the prior crimes of Old Casey, which she might not remember, but everyone else certainly does. However, her biggest frustration concerns her feelings for her father’s rugged security specialist who sees her only as a teenager and doesn’t want to explore the mutual attraction between them.

Will her second chance at life prove to be worth the struggles she has to overcome? (Goodreads Synopsis)


I enjoyed reading this book. It was engaging and very thought-provoking. As a reader, I really felt involved in Cass/Casey's story. It had a lot of depth and spoke of some very important issues. I am not going to say too much as I don't want to create spoilers, but the only thing that didn't quite work for me was the romance element. 

That aside, this is a very readable book that has a strong message for young people and I applaud the author for the sensitivity with which the story is portrayed.