My Second Life

October 5, 2015
What if you could be reborn to atone for the sins of your previous life? That’s the idea behind this languid mystery from first-time author Bird. Emma Trees died at age 22 only to be resurrected six years later as Ana Ross. Now 15, Ana remembers her previous life with some longing, but it isn’t until a chance meeting with a woman she knew as Emma that Ana realizes that she might have been brought back for a reason—to seek forgiveness for the death of a child. Guilt-ridden and confused, Ana seeks to learn more about her life as Emma and the accident she believes she was responsible for, but she winds up unraveling a decades-old secret that leaves her reeling. Bird’s story is slow to build, and though the concept is intriguing, little is done to flesh out Ana’s character, or Emma’s, beyond the traumatic event around which the story revolves. Ana’s relationship with a boy from school evolves quickly but seems unnecessary, and what is meant to be the explosive revelatory scene doesn’t pack the intended emotional punch. Ages 12–up.

November 15, 2015
A teen living her second life is haunted by having killed someone in her first. Fifteen-year-old Ana was born in the year 2000 to Rachel, who loves her deeply. But Rachel "doesn't feel like Mum" to Ana, because Ana's not really Ana: she'd been born before, in 1972, and died at age 22. She used to be--and still feels like--a girl named Emma, and she pines for her original mum. A chance encounter with an old woman named Frances sends Ana spinning down a frantic path. When she was Emma, Ana killed a little girl--Frances' daughter. Ana begins to visit Frances on the same street where Emma grew up, equally desperate to find clarity about the drowning and to avoid that clarity, because it's all too painful and Frances is cold as ice. Ana's sleepless due to fear and trauma, but she's not hallucinating, and Bird includes no fantasy elements beyond the reincarnation. Tormented by memory scraps and powerful feelings still alive from her first childhood, Ana begins to put the pieces together, but full comprehension is impossible until Frances and Ana sit down with Emma's parents. Ana's first-person narration wraps heart-wrenching feelings--jealousy, yearning, grief, hatred--in plainspoken prose. The fateful night's magnetic pull will have readers staying awake until the very end. A page-turning mystery with a spot-on emotional core. (author's note) (Mystery. 14 & up)

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November 1, 2015

Gr 8 Up-Emma was born, Emma lived, and Emma died. Ana was born, Ana lived, and Ana remembers her first life as Emma. These memories of her first life aren't happy, and they don't help Ana understand boys or cope with teenage angst. Instead, these memories remind her that when she lived the first time around, she may or may not have had a hand in the death of someone close to her. When a person from her past life shows up in her current one, Ana has to figure out how to deal with her past choices while living her current ones. While the concept is intriguing and the mystery of just what Ana did while she was Emma is captivating, the story itself is slow to unfold and often drags. The exciting moments and plot twists are not enough to distract from overwrought melodrama and cliches. Overall, despite a unique concept of reincarnation and multidimensional characters, the book would be hard pressed to find a readership in most libraries. VERDICT A supplemental purchase.-Paige Garrison, Aurora Central Public Library, CO

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