D.N.A.: Nothing Will Ever Be the Same by Ey Wade

Publication Date: July 14, 2012

Debney Nichole Armstrong’s (D.N.A.) life fell apart when police show up at her door on the night of her 18^th birthday, party in full swing, to tell her that her father, mother and twin brothers had perished in a terrible accident during their vacation in Italy. In her grief, Debney becomes drunk and promiscuous and winds up pregnant. She’s newly wealthy and alone living in the pool house because she can’t face living in her home. Now she must discover family secrets and if her brothers, whose bodies were never found, were indeed in the vehicle when it crashed. She must also face the reality of adulthood with a growing life inside of her.

Have you ever read a novel and felt as though you were missing something? Debney is a senior in high school at the start of the novel. She is heavily pregnant and it seems that every child in the school has choreographed themselves to torture her. She’s pushed down stairs, taunted, her backpack taken and held high. When she goes into the bathroom all the girls rush into stalls. She has revenge planned that is not quite Stephen King’s “Carrie” but in the same spirit. Debney is no shrinking violet. Even before the death of her parents she was a mouthy and rebellious child. It’s clear that Debney is intended as spirited and a survivor. She is a character who has been through a lot even before the loss of her oft referenced family. Enough is enough at school after flooding the bathroom and it’s time for her to snap. Thankfully, she can walk out that day, head held high, course work completed with a clear illustration through grades and means that she’s better and smarter than all of them. If being bullied isn’t enough, her mother hated her and edged her out of the family vacation. This isn’t just a teen’s fantasy of a parent’s hate; her mom put it in writing as she did her infidelity. We also have people walking through saying, “Yeah, your mom was a real witch…and here’s another evil thing she did.” She never wanted Debney and sees her as responsible for her imprisonment in a marriage she never wanted.

The subject matter is appropriate for teenagers. There’s no sex education available in this novel except in the obvious after effects. There are some strangish moments such as an 18-year-old who conspires with a friend to lose her virginity to a boy who has promised to be there for both of them when they’re ready. I had to read that one a few times and the scene read much younger than the character, but as it’s not the point of the novel it’s one of those ookie things easily dismissed. Still, this is an appropriate novel for a 12+ audience.

Technically there’s not a lot wrong with [easyazon-link asin=”1478177241″ locale=”us”]D.N.A.: Nothing Would Ever Be The Same[/easyazon-link]. There are a few word use errors that are clearly typos, and one place that I spotted where a name was used when clearly the name of another character should have been in its place. The story opens with Debney being tortured in the present and her revenge in short order and flashbacks to key events follow so that the reader understands the pain that the young woman has experienced. We are constantly reminded of how much she loves her father and how rich he left her and how evil her mother, select adults and classmates are. Adult characters occasionally seem to lend voice to the author in the story in lecturing about modern teenagers and how loosely they treat themselves and their sexuality, and as the intended audience is young reader, that message may hit the mark. Debney doesn’t feel anyone loves her but we, as readers know they do.

If your young adult likes dramatic novels where the worst of the worst happens to a character and that character must either sink or swim, [easyazon-link asin=”1478177241″ locale=”us”]D.N.A.: Nothing Would Ever Be The Same[/easyazon-link] is the novel for them.

For more information about Ey Wade and her work, visit her blog. You can connect with her on Goodreads, Facebook, Google+ and Twitter @jumpouttheboat.