My Alternate Life

Rating:
Summary: Refreshing New Novel for Teens
Review: Fifteen-year-old urban tough girl, Trinity B. Jones, was perfectly happy with her life. Sure, she didn't have her birth Mother at home with her, and her foster parents didn't really care about her, but she was able to do what she wanted, and her boyfriend, Nate, loved her. But suddenly, her foster parents got sick of teenagers, and threw them all out, leaving Trinity with no home. Now, Trinity is forced to move to the suburbs with a family court lawyer named Susan, who's looking to do a good deed, and her 15-year-old daughter, Kelly, who's miss popularity, and a total phony. But when Trinity places the computer game that her social worker, Fred, gives her, she's suddenly able to experience her alternate life. The life that she would have had with her birth Mother, had she decided to keep her, instead of throw her away like an old t-shirt. Everything Trinity is experiencing is a dream come true. Now if only she could escape this life, and live forever in her alternate life.

Lee McClain has created a diamond among cubic zirconia, with MY ALTERNATE LIFE, as it is one of the only teen books on the market about a foster child. Trinity is a fast-talking teenager, filled with the usual angst that overtakes most kids over the age of thirteen, who knows exactly where she wants to go in life, and that's back to urbania. Her quick wit, and hilarious remarks will keep readers flipping the pages, while the sadness that overtakes her at times over the abandonment by her Mother, will have readers sympathizing with her, and hoping that she finds the family life that she so rightfully deserves. Filled with wonderful characters, both main and supporting, as well as an extremely fresh, and original plot, this is sure to be a winner in the eyes of teenage readers the world over.

Erika Sorocco
Book Review Columnist for The Community Bugle Newspaper

Rating:
Summary: Trinity B Jones rocks Podunk High
Review: Tough, smart Trinity B. Jones bounced between foster homes and St. Helen's Home for Girls until she landed in Linden Falls. Her foster mother Susan and her daughter Kelly are nice enough but life as a country girl in "Podunk High" is a total bore. Luckily Fred, her latest in a string of case workers, gives her a web address for ALTLIVES.com, a mysterious computer game that allows her to peer into the lives of the people in her past, including her real mom. She discovers her mom is married to a wealthy man in nearby Pittsburgh and she becomes obsessed with finding a way to get back into her life.

When she finds out Josh Johnson is sure to be elected King of the Fall Dance, Trinity devises a scheme to get him to ask her to the dance. But she knows it'll take more than becoming Fall Queen to get her social climbing mother's attention. Undaunted, Trinity works out another plan. Since Linden High lacks a planning committee or a theme for the dance, she and Kelly take over and convince everyone to make it a charity event to benefit St. Helen's. Trinity uses Kelly's name to trick her mom into donating $2,000 to their school's charity and an invitation to be the star of the show. As plans often do, this one grows larger in its dimension until it blows up in her face. Trinity is forced to decide between the real world and ALTLIVES.

Trinity's ability to spy on her real mom through the Internet adds a satisfying element of fantasy to the heart wrenching reality of her life. It seems perfectly fair and reasonable that a foster child should have the right to peer into the life of the parent who abandoned her and make her own judgments. While "My Alternate Life" is an inside look at the life of a foster teen, McClain skillfully weaves the common issues of self-esteem and self defense for young women into the plot. Teen readers will be drawn to Trinity's rough edges and identify with her independent spirit as she makes the biggest decision of her life.

Copyright (c) 2004 by Peggy Tibbetts