Book Review: Sia by Josh Grayson

Summary: 

When seventeen-year-old Sia wakes up on a park bench, she has no idea who or where she is. Yet after a week of being homeless, she’s reunited with her family. At school, she’s powerful and popular. At home, she’s wealthy beyond her dreams. But she quickly realizes her perfect life is a lie. Her family is falling apart and her friends are snobby, cruel and plastic. Worse yet, she discovers she was the cruelest one. Mortified by her past, she embarks on a journey of redemption and falls for Kyle, the “geek” she once tormented. Yet all the time she wonders if, when her memories return, she’ll become the bully she was before…and if she’ll lose Kyle.

Release Date:  November 20, 2013

Age Group:  YA

Source: NetGalley
Reviewed By: Kelli

Review:

I love a good contemporary young adult novel, and Sia certainly fit the bill.  There's something to be said for the satisfaction of reading a stand-alone novel.  It's just really gratifying to have the ending set in stone at the end of the book, as opposed to waiting months to years to find out how the story will end.

The premise of Sia was captivating to me: waking up somewhere, and not knowing who or where you are.  I don't know about you, but that's always been a fear of mine: me or my loved ones getting amnesia.  So, I connected with Sia right away.  I felt for her, and was scared for her.  I admired her inner strength, living on the streets the way she did.  

But when I really started to fall for Sia was when she returned home to her life of luxury and discovered who she used to be: the cruelest of the mean girls at her high school.  She rebukes her old ways and starts to change; however, her change is not accepted well by anyone at school.  Her old friends want the old Sia back, and the people she's trying to befriend don't trust her.

Sia decides she needs to prove herself, prove that she really has changed, and gets involved in a fundraiser for victims of a recent earthquake.  That's when the story really took off, and that's when she displayed the most character growth.  

I really liked the writing style---it flowed well---and loved Sia's inner voice.  Watching her change for the better throughout the story was my favorite aspect of this book.  The love story was not a huge focus of the book, but it was well-developed and very sweet.  The ending was perfect, and I finished the book happy that I read it.  I'd recommend Sia for fans of contemporary YA literature.  I'm looking forward to reading more from Josh Grayson.