Finding Ruby Starling was nothing like I expected it to be! The book was cute, and funny, and everything I love in a Middle Grade contemporary – but there was also a turn of events I most definitely wasn’t expecting. The book is written through a series of emails between Ruth and her long-lost twin sister, Ruby, and their friends emailing them. The voice of a modern-day twelve-year-old is so on point, it was hilarious!

Title: Finding Ruby Starling

Author: Karen Rivers

Publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books

Publication Date: August 26, 2014

Source: borrowed from the library (hardback)

Synopsis: THE PARENT TRAP comes to the digital age!

When Ruth Quayle used a special app to search for pictures of herself online, she found dozens of images of “Ruth Quayle” — and one of “Ruby Starling.”

When Ruby Starling gets a message from a Ruth Quayle proclaiming them to be long-lost twin sisters, she doesn’t know what to do with it — until another message arrives the day after, and another one. It could be a crazy stalker … but she and this Ruth do share a birthday, and a very distinctive ear….

Ruth is an extroverted American girl. Ruby is a shy English one. As they investigate the truth of their birth and the circumstances of their separation, they also share lives full of friends, family, and possible romances — and they realize they each may be the sister the other never knew she needed.

I love how the book is described in its blurb – “The Parent Trap comes to the digital age!” I love long-lost twin stories, and I especially loved how Ruth and Ruby reacted when they found out the truth, thanks to some pictures on the internet. I thought I was going to cry, I was laughing so hard! Here’s an excerpt from when Ruth emailed Ruby about being twins.

And then, just like that, it was obvious. I figured it out!!! It wasn’t like in movies where the heroine solves the case and then there is a big swell of music, even though I sort of felt like there should be. My eyes were overflowing with tears. Because… well… Ruby Starling, WE ARE IDENTICAL TWINS!

At first, I was a little wary about the book because a lot of internet lingo was used, like “obvi” and “j/k.” The first several emails had a lot of exclamation points and all-caps, and I was worried Ruth would be like that the entire book. I really liked Ruby best at first, because this is how I would react if something emailed me this.

‘Ruth’: You are mad. Bonkers. Get stuffed. And don’t write to me again, please. Your note was very upsetting. Yours truly, Ruby Starling P.S. You are very good at Photoshop. A little TOO good, don’t you think?

Everything – from the reactions, voices, and feelings – of the twelve-year-old girls is SO perfect. I can totally see a twelve-year-old girl being just like that! I couldn’t even imagine an adult writing the book. Karen Rivers’ voice was just so funny. I really hope my friends (who aren’t much of a bookworm) read this book, because some of them (cough cough Sydney) talk just like Ruby and Ruth. 😉

I also loved the parents in the book – Ruby’s and Ruth’s. They were very realistic, and great parents, but of course you see through the eyes of a twelve-year-old girl, and the way Ruby and Ruth see the world and their parents is realistic, too. However, the girls weren’t rebellious and didn’t talk back to their parents, even though (in my humble, thirteen-year-old girl opinion), their parents didn’t really pay attention to their daughters at times.

I didn’t like how Ruth’s dad talked about Buddhism all the time, but it wasn’t that big of a deal. I mean, hey, Buddha did have some good quotes. Ruby’s mom totally bugged me, too. It wasn’t until the end of the book that Ruby FINALLY got to talk to her mom about having a twin. I was so anxious to see how that played out, and it really went deeper than I thought would happen for this book. How could a mom keep one twin and not the other?!

Another interesting aspect of the story was the internet. Aside from emails, Ruth also had a tumblr blog, and that was really neat. I don’t think I’ve read a book like this one in the way that it portrayed and used the internet to tell the story.

I also didn’t know that this was the second book in a series – it turns out some of the characters in this book first appeared in The Encyclopedia of Me by Karen Rivers. I really didn’t need to read the first one to understand Finding Ruby Starling. I think it’s more of a companion novel than a sequel, which is great. I can’t wait to read The Encyclopedia of Me, though!

Finding Ruby Starling gets five stars!

Have you read Finding Ruby Starling or The Encyclopedia of Me? What do you think of them?